The U.S. has tariffs in place on over $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai says those duties give the U.S. significant leverage on China, making them useful when negotiating with the Asian nation.
Bloomberg says a debate is ongoing among members of the Biden administration on whether to keep those tariffs in place for the time being. “The China tariffs, in my view, are a significant piece of leverage, and a trade negotiator never walks away from leverage,” Tai said during Senate testimony.
Biden recently said he’s in the process of deciding on whether to remove any of the duties first put in place by President Trump in 2018. Tai also points out that removing the tariffs would have a limited impact on the rapid rise in inflation. Earlier this month (June 2022), Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that a reduction in duties may help bring down prices.
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