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More than 400 requests to keep tariffs in place on Chinese goods
had been submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative's office as
of late Tuesday, complicating Biden's decision-making.
Among these are a committee of 24 labor unions from the AFL-CIO
to the Air Line Pilots Association, which has requested https://www.usw.org/news/media-center/articles/2022/june/22-06-06-LAC-mbrs-comments-on-301-Tariff-Extension.pdf
that all of the "Section 301" tariffs imposed by former
President Donald Trump continue, covering some $370 billion in
Chinese imports.
If he substantially removes the tariffs, Biden would have to
turn his back on a key constituency. He has described himself as
the most pro-labor president ever, heavily relying on unions to
power his Democratic Party primary and general election wins in
2020.
After weeks of deliberations within the administration over
cutting tariffs as a way to ease high inflation, White House
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden's team was still
weighing various strategies.
"There are a lot of different elements to this, especially since
the previous administration imposed these tariffs in such a
haphazard way, in a non-strategic way," Jean-Pierre said. "So we
want to make sure that we have the right approach. And again,
his team is talking, is figuring it out, and they're talking
through this."
Jean-Pierre declined to provide a timeline for Biden's decision
when asked whether it would wait until he speaks with Chinese
President Xi Jinping - a planned call that is yet to be
scheduled.
People familiar with the tariff deliberations have told Reuters
that Biden also is weighing whether to pair a removal of some
tariffs with a new Section 301 investigation into China's
industrial subsidies and efforts to dominate key sectors, such
as semiconductors.
A probe would take up to a year to conduct and could lead to a
new round of tariffs, but the sources said that Biden can claim
that any such duties would be more strategically focused than
many of the current tariffs on consumer goods such as cotton
sweaters and home internet routers.
The deliberations come as USTR is conducting a four-year
statutory review of the tariffs, with one deadline for
submitting requests to keep tariffs in place expiring late on
Tuesday and another lasting until Aug. 22.
The tariff issue was raised during a call between U.S. Treasury
Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice Premier Liu He on Monday night,
but a Treasury statement did not mention the duties and focused
on broader economic challenges and Russian sanctions.
(Reporting by David Lawder and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional
reporting by Alexandra Alper and Chris Gallagher; Editing by
Leslie Adler and Christopher Cushing)
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