WASHINGTON – US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Sunday that President Joe Biden has asked his team to consider lifting some tariffs on China imposed by former President Donald Trump in order to combat the current high inflation.
“We’re looking into it.” In fact, the president has asked his team to investigate this. “And so we are in the process of doing that for him, and he will have to make that decision,” Raimondo said in an interview with CNN on Sunday when asked if the Biden administration was considering lifting tariffs on China to help ease inflation.
“There are other products — household goods, bicycles, and so on — and it may make sense” to consider lifting tariffs on those, she said, adding that the administration had decided to keep some steel and aluminium tariffs in place to protect American workers and the steel industry.
Biden has stated that he is considering removing some of the tariffs imposed by his predecessor on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods in 2018 and 2019, amid a bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
China has also argued that tariff reductions would benefit American consumers.
Raimondo also told CNN that she believes the current semiconductor chip shortage will likely last until 2024.
“There is only one solution (to the shortage of semiconductor chips),” she added. Congress must act and pass the Chips Act.” I’m not sure why they’re taking so long.” The legislation aims to increase US semiconductor manufacturing in order to give the US a competitive advantage over China.
Raimondo disputed the assertion that Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan contributed to the current high inflation. The Covid-19 relief package was passed by Congress a year before it was signed into law, making it a signature achievement of Biden’s first year in office.
