Biden to end tariff exclusions on hundreds of Chinese products

President Joe Biden plans to extend tariff exemptions on hundreds of products from China for two weeks as a transition period before reimposing duties on some of them, and will continue exclusions for some others until the middle of next year, the office of the US Trade Representative said.

The exemptions were set to expire at the end of this month. The move comes after the administration said it would quadruple tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China and raise levies on imports including semiconductors, batteries, solar cells, and critical minerals due to the nation’s alleged intellectual property theft.

The tariffs were first imposed under President Donald Trump starting in 2018.

The tariff changes Biden announced last week are staggered to take effect from 2024 to 2026, and are more targeted than the 60% flat tariff Trump has proposed. The biggest jump is for EVs, with the tariff rate quadrupling, while other imports are seeing levies doubled or imposed for the first time. In some cases, the levies apply to areas where China has only a small segment of the US market, but are intended to head off a potential deluge of imports.