Minor Tariff Relief Appears To Be Coming; More Is Needed

Clark PackardOver the Fourth of July weekend,The Wall Street Journalreported that the Biden administration is likely to lift some tariffs on imports from China as Washington tries to combat inflation and Beijing reels from COVID ‐​19‐​related shutdowns. The report indicates that the tariff “pause” would likely cover consumer goods “such as clothing and school supplies, as well as launching a broad framework to allow importers to request tariff waivers. ” Politico, meanwhile, isreporting that the value of tariff relief will be a meager $10 billion out of the approximately $370 billion imposed by the Trump administration. This is better than nothing, but still woefully inadequate.The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is currently conducting a required review of the Trump ‐​era tariffs, the comment period for which expired earlier this week.News reports indicate a rift within the Biden administration: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is supportive of removing most of the tariffs in order to put downward pressure on prices, while National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Ambassador Katherine Tai, the USTR, are opposed to any tariff relief, citing the supposed“leverage” provided by the tariffs.The Financial Timesnoted that internal White House skepticism of cutting some tariffs is driven by the president ’s desire to “avoid a backlash before the midterm elections from lawmakers who view cutting tariffs as being weak on China. ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs