“China’s steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidising them so heavily,” said Vice President Joe Biden.
Speaking to union members in Pennsylvania, a battleground state, US President Joe Biden demanded increasing taxes on Chinese steel and aluminum.
In an address to the United Steelworkers union in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Biden declared, to applause, “I stand by you, the American steelworker,” as he introduced the latest in a string of protectionist policies.
Biden, who has visited Pennsylvania more than any other state throughout his campaign and who defeated Donald Trump by a small margin in 2020, has advocated for increasing taxes on Chinese imports of aluminum and steel.
“China’s steel companies don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidising them so heavily,” Biden, who is 81 years old, stated.
“They’re cheating, not competing. Here in America, we’ve witnessed the damage caused by their cheating.”
In an additional effort to win over the union, Biden has resisted a plan by Japan’s Nippon Steel to acquire the Pittsburgh-based company US Steel. Biden earned the union’s sought support last month.
On Wednesday, he reiterated his promise to sabotage the Japanese acquisition of the “iconic American company”.
“American-owned, American-operated by American union steelworkers, the best in the world — and that’s going to happen, I promise,” he stated.
Beijing became enraged when Washington announced that it was also looking into Chinese shipbuilding in response to a complaint by unions, notably United Steelworkers.
But Biden emphasized that he wasn’t looking to confront China.
“No trade war,” Biden had earlier declared in response to questions from reporters regarding the tariffs on China while making a stop at a coffee shop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, his birthplace.
During the first meaningful discussions between defense chiefs in almost eighteen months, the Chinese minister of defense advocated for more trust between Beijing and Washington the day before Biden made his remarks.
Competition in the economy
Even while Biden and Trump disagree greatly on almost every issue, including taxes and abortion, Biden’s trade ideas are starting to resemble parts of Trump’s “America First” platform.
But unlike Trump, Biden has made significant investments in green and infrastructure projects since taking office in the hopes of relocating manufacturing and production of essential commodities like steel to the United States.
The Biden administration sees that as being impeded by China’s actions. About half of the world’s steel is produced in China, which also exports the metal at a substantial discount to US steel prices, a senior US official told reporters.
Separately, the US Trade Representative announced that it was opening an investigation into China’s trade policies in the shipbuilding, shipping, and logistics industries.
China’s commerce sector described the investigation as “full of false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities as harming US national security and corporate interests, and blaming China for its own industrial problems.” Beijing declared its strong opposition to the investigation.
The two largest economies in the world are under more stress than just trade conflicts.
Although Biden has attempted to defuse tensions, the United States has recognized China as its main adversary for the upcoming century.
They just chatted after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California last year.
However, Biden’s recent hosting of the presidents of Japan and the Philippines in an attempt to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific area infuriated China once more.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
