WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is hiking tariffs on $18 billion in Chinese goods including electric vehicles, batteries, semiconductors, steel, aluminum, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products, while retaining Trump-era tariffs on over $300 billion in goods.
The United States Trade Representative’s Office told Reuters it anticipates the effective date will be in approximately 90 days.
The following products will be targeted:
- Certain steel and aluminum products: Tariffs more than triple on some these products, estimated earlier at least $1 billion in goods, from the current range of zero to 7.5% to 25% in 2024. The White House cited “China’s non-market overcapacity in steel and aluminum, which are among the world’s most carbon intensive.”
- Semiconductors: Tariffs will increase from 25% to 50% by 2025, the White House said, citing China’s huge share in new semiconductor wafers coming online and a spike in prices during the pandemic. “China’s policies in the legacy semiconductor sector have led to growing market share and rapid capacity expansion that risks driving out investment by market-driven firms.”
- Electric Vehicles: Tariffs will increase from 25% to 100% in 2024 (on top of a separate 2.5% tariff), the White House said, citing “extensive subsidies and non-market practices leading to substantial risks of overcapacity.” The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will be covered by the new tariffs but not hybrid vehicles.
- Batteries, Battery Components and Parts: Tariffs on lithium-ion EV batteries will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2024, while the tariff rate on lithium-ion non-EV batteries will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2026. Tariff rates on battery parts will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2024.
- Critical minerals: Tariffs for certain critical minerals will increase from 0 to 25% in 2024.
- Other minerals covered by the new tariffs include: Manganese ores and concentrates including ferruginous manganese ores & concentrates with manganese content over 20% calculated on dry weight; Cobalt ores and concentrates; Aluminum ores and concentrates; Zinc ores and concentrates; Chromium ores and concentrates; Tungsten concentrates, oxides, carbide, powders and Tungstates (wolframates); Tritium and its compounds, alloys, dispersions, ceramic products and mixtures thereof; Actinium, Californium, Curium, Einsteinium, Gadolinium, Polonium, Radium, Uranium & their compounds, alloys, dispersions, ceramic products & mixtures; Other radioactive elements, isotopes, compounds; alloys, dispersions, ceramic products and mixtures; Radioactive residues; Ferronickel; Ferroniobium containing by weight less than 0.02% of phosphorus or sulfur or less than 0.4% of silicon; Zinc (other than alloy), unwrought, containing o/99.99% by weight of zinc; Zinc (o/than alloy); Zinc alloy, unwrought; Tin o/than alloy), unwrought; Tin alloy, unwrought; Tantalum, unwrought; tantalum powders; Chromium, unwrought; chromium powders; Indium, unwrought; indium powders
- Natural graphite and permanent magnets for EV batteries: Tariffs will increase from 0% to 25% in 2026; tariffs for certain other critical minerals will also increase from 0% to 25% in 2024.
- Solar cells: Tariffs on cells – whether assembled into modules or not – will double to 50% in 2024 to “protect against China’s policy-driven overcapacity that depresses prices and inhibits the development of solar capacity outside of China.”
- Ship-to-shore cranes: New tariffs of 25% will be added in 2024 to “help protect U.S. manufacturers from China’s unfair trade practices that have led to excessive concentration in the market.”
- Medical products, syringes and needles: New tariffs of 50% will be imposed in 2024; tariffs for certain personal protective equipment (PPE), including some respirators and face masks, will increase from the current range of 0 to 7.5% to 25% in 2024. Tariffs on rubber medical and surgical gloves will increase from 7.5% to 25% in 2026 to “help support and sustain a strong domestic industrial base for medical supplies that were essential to the COVID-19 pandemic response.”
Proposed exclusions
The U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office said it has proposed exclusions from the tariffs on over 330 categories of industrial machinery to aid U.S. manufacturers, including producers of solar panels.
The list, contained in a lengthy USTR review of its Section 301 tariffs, includes 19 categories of equipment used to manufacture solar panels, including silicon crystal growth furnaces, and soldering and lamination machines. USTR said these exclusions will encourage domestic manufacturing of solar products.
Other broad categories for industrial exclusions include:
- Hydraulic and mechanical metal presses, machine tools for working metal and stone, metal rolling mills.
- Offshore oil and gas drilling and production platforms, boring and rock cutting machinery.
- Agricultural equipment including seeders, planters, fertilizer distributors.
- Brewery and bakery equipment, machinery for preparation of meat and poultry.
- Textile machinery including spinning and knitting machines, looms and sewing machines.
- Molding machines for rubber and plastics, industrial furnaces for making printed circuit assemblies.
