The office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, announced Tuesday an extension of China 301 tariff exclusions on 352 Chinese imports and 77 Covid-related categories until May 31, 2024.
The tariffs were enacted in 2018 and 2019 by then-President Donald Trump under the aegis of the Trade Act of 1974 and were expected to be repealed when he left office by President Biden. The Trade Act of 1974 was aimed at combating trade partners’ unfair practices. China continues to call the U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods “discriminatory.”
Included in the tariff exclusions are industrial components like pumps and electric motors, car parts and chemicals, bicycles and vacuum cleaners. Covid-related extensions include medical products like face masks, examination gloves and hand sanitizing wipes. Trump imposed tariffs on goods from China totaling some $370 billion and, citing security concerns, Biden added new restrictions, specifically on the export of advanced semiconductors and the equipment to make them.
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Last week China extended some tariffs exemptions on imports from the U.S. until July 31, 2024, according to the Chinese finance ministry.
The points of contention in the relationship between the U.S. and China go well beyond trade and tariff issues. Taiwan is at the top of a long list, as are the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, and human rights violations like that stamped with the Uyghur forced labor from China imprint.
In a report issued two weeks ago, a U.S. congressional committee said it aims to reset and recalibrate the relationship with China, essentially laying out 150 policy recommendations that included raising tariffs on China-made goods and limiting the country’s duty-free access to the American market under the de minimis law.
Two members, chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.), and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi, (D-Il) said jointly that the relationship between the two “has to be reset in order to serve the economic and national security interests of the United States.”
Krishnamoorthi specified that the U.S. needs to stem the flow of U.S. technology and capital which he believes are funding China’s increasing military advances and egregious human rights abuses.
