President Biden to end tariff exclusions on hundreds of Chinese products

By Eric Martin

President Joe Biden will reimpose tariffs on hundreds of goods imported from China, the office of the US Trade Representative announced, as part of a broader plan to increase duties in strategic sectors and protect American manufacturing.

The US will allow tariff exclusions to expire on about half of 400 products that had been spared, USTR said on Friday. It added that 164 exclusions would be extended through May of next year. All of the exemptions, which are set to expire at the end of this month, will be extended through June 14 to allow for a transition period for those that aren’t being renewed. 

Some of the products receiving continued exclusions through next May include types of motors and medical equipment, but the products are as varied as child safety seats, certain types of backpacks and some types of crab meat.

Among the products where exclusions are being ended are more than 100 where the administration received no public comment asking for their extension, the trade office said. For the others, public comments failed to show that extending the exclusions would help to shift sourcing out of China, or to show that the imports are unavailable from sources other than China.

The move comes after the administration said it would quadruple tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China and raise levies on imports including semiconductors, batteries, solar cells, and critical minerals due to the nation’s alleged intellectual property theft. 

The tariffs were first imposed under President Donald Trump starting in 2018.