The United States has begun to be ruthless against China, and China's Ministry of Commerce has also said that it will resolutely counteract, and Germany and Sweden have also spoken out on this matter, warning the EU not to follow the example of the United States.
It is reported that in the past two days, the U.S. government released the results of the four-year review of the 301 tariff imposed on China, and announced that it will further increase China's import tariffs on electric vehicles, photovoltaic cells, lithium batteries, critical minerals, semiconductors, steel and aluminum products on the basis of the original 301 tariff.
The initiative, which covers a total of $18 billion worth of Chinese goods, is expected to be phased over the next three years. According to the statement issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. tariff on Chinese electric vehicles will be directly increased from 25% to 100%, and there will be additional tariffs of 2.5%.
Import tariffs on products other than electric vehicles have also increased dozens of times. The White House also claimed that the action was "carefully targeted at strategic areas", and it can be seen from the increase in tariffs that China's electric vehicle industry is the focus of the United States this time.
You must know that the Section 301 tariffs are punitive tariffs on Chinese imports launched during the Trump administration in 2018, and the total value of Chinese goods that were suppressed at the beginning exceeded 100 billion US dollars. Now that the four-year deadline has expired, the Biden administration has made it clear that it wants to continue Trump's economic policy toward China.
After the U.S. announced the result, Trump also said in a high-profile manner that it was long overdue. In fact, Biden's intention to continue to extend the Section 301 tariffs on China is also expected. After all, many high-level officials in the United States have been making noise on this matter recently, and two days ago, US Secretary of Commerce Raimondo publicly revealed that they are ready to take "extreme measures" against China's connected cars.
Including the day before the White House announced tariffs on China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said that the U.S. would take some action against China's "overcapacity problem," and she also predicted that China might have a "significant response" to this. With regard to the so-called Section 301 tariffs, China has repeatedly expressed its strong dissatisfaction and protests to the US side.
My spokesman said that the United States' move is to instrumentalize and politicize economic and trade issues, and the WTO has long ruled that Section 301 tariff violations have already been adjudicated, and it also violates Biden's commitment not to seek to suppress and contain China.
In addition, China also warned that if the United States does not lift the measures imposed on China, China will take resolute measures to defend its rights and interests. To put it bluntly, if the United States continues to impose punitive tariffs on China, China will also take corresponding countermeasures against the United States.
However, although Biden has also implemented many negative policies against China during his presidency, it is the first time that he has dealt a heavy hand in tariffs. The reason why Biden imposed tariffs on China at this juncture is to increase the propaganda of "China's overcapacity", stimulate the development of the U.S. manufacturing industry, and inject more impetus into the U.S. to switch from traditional fuel vehicles to electric vehicles.
Second, it is to win votes. Biden is trying to attract some voters who score low on economic policy by increasing tariffs on China, and he can also win the support of traditional energy automakers in the United States. However, Biden's tariffs this time seem to be serious in nature, but the effect is far greater than the substance.
In fact, the market share of Chinese electric vehicles in the United States is not high, and solar products are not directly exported to the United States, so they can also avoid tariffs. Therefore, Biden is mainly targeting China's electric vehicle industry this time, and it will not have too serious an impact on Sino-US trade.
What's more, the increased suppression of China's electric vehicles and parts will also be a big loss for the transformation of the U.S. auto industry, and it will not even be conducive to the reorganization of the U.S. manufacturing industry. However, after the US shot, the reaction of European countries was quite large. Both Germany and Sweden have spoken out on the matter.
In the past two days, during a meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson, both publicly warned the EU not to follow the example of the United States in its treatment of Chinese electric vehicles, and should carefully consider the benefits of trading with China. In addition, Christersson stressed that the US move is a bad idea.
The main reason why Germany and Sweden are so excited this time is because they are worried that the EU will have quite serious consequences for them to follow the example of the United States, after all, the cooperation between China and the EU in electric vehicles is different from that of China and the United States, half of the Chinese electric vehicles imported by Europe are produced by their own manufacturers, and countries such as Germany and Sweden are still mainly industrial countries.
Once the EU strikes at China's electric vehicles, Germany will bear the brunt of China's countermeasures. It can be seen from this that the United States' move will not only affect China and the United States, but will also cast a shadow on the European Union.
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