WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) – US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Sunday that President Joe Biden had asked his team to consider lifting some tariffs on China imposed by former President Donald Trump in order to fights the current high inflation.
“We are looking at it. In fact, the president has asked his team to analyze this. So, we are in the process of doing this for him and he will have to make that decision,” Raimondo told CNN in an interview Sunday when asked if the administration Biden weighs raising tariffs on China to ease inflation.
“There are other products – household goods, bicycles, etc. – and it may make sense” to weigh the tariffs on them, she said, adding that the administration has decided to keep some of the tariffs on steel and aluminum for to protect American workers and the steel industry.
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Biden said he was considering removing some of the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars by his predecessor in 2018 and 2019 amid a fierce trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Read more
Flags of China and the United States waving in front of the US Company building in Beijing, China, January 21, 2021. REUTERS / Tingshu Wang / File
China also claims that the reduction in tariffs will reduce costs for American consumers.
Raimondo also told CNN that he believes the continuing shortage of semiconductor chips is likely to continue until 2024.
“There is a solution (for the shortage of semiconductor chips),” she added. “Congress needs to act and pass the chips bill. I don’t know why they’re delaying.”
The legislation aims to increase semiconductor production in the United States to give the United States a more competitive blow against China. Read more
Raimondo said he disagreed with the description that Biden’s US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan had contributed to the current high inflation. Congress passed the COVID-19 relief package a year ago before it was signed into law, marking a landmark achievement for Biden’s first year in office. Read more
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Report by Kanishka Singh in Washington Editing by Nick Zieminski
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