In a speech before the main metal union in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Joe Biden announced this Wednesday his intention to increase tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, in a protectionist measure that resembles the style manual of his predecessor, Donald Trump. Specifically, the president of the United States wants to triple the tariffs on these products, from the current 7.5% to 25%, to fight against the growing imports from China that are affecting the industry of the states of the so-called North American rust belt.
“The metal sector will not be able to compete until there is fair competition. And for too long the Chinese government has subsidized its steel companies. Because these companies produce much more than China needs, they end up selling it on the international market. at unfairly low prices. Since they receive money from the government, they should not worry about profit, so they are not competing: they are cheating,” the president said at his campaign event in Pennsylvania.
The president has announced that his government is analyzing Beijing’s practices and, “if our investigation confirms that they are illegitimate, we will call to consider tripling tariffs on steel and aluminum from China.” Pittsbuth is known as the metal city and the heart of the American steel industry. This sector is essential for a multitude of products, such as automobiles, or the construction of roads and bridges, but in recent times it has been finding it difficult to compete with imports from the Asian Giant. This competition, according to Biden, has led to a loss of 40,000 jobs in a decade in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In addition to the entry of China into its market, Pittsburgh also faces the threat of Japanese capital, after the company Nippon Steel has offered $14.1 billion to buy the metallurgical company US Steel. Biden already opposed this operation a month ago, which he considers a loss of American dominance over his own industry. Other national companies, such as the Cleveland-Cliffs steel company, are considering similar offers, although with much lower amounts. This Wednesday, Biden reaffirmed his position: “US Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century, and it should remain that way. American owned, operated by Americans, and with American steel union workers.”
This Wednesday, Biden reaffirmed his position: “US Steel has been an iconic American company for more than a century, and it must remain that way. American owned, operated by Americans, and with American steel union workers.”
The tariff measure announced this Wednesday has a strong electoral impact, especially in the Midwestern states, which will be key for the November presidential elections, as they were in the last two elections. In 2016, Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton, in part, thanks to his intense campaign in the industrial states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which for years were part of the so-called Democratic ‘blue wall’, and which have since been converted into pendulum states (swing states).
Biden, who exhibits a profile and a record closer to the unions, to which he has become especially close during the last year – for example, with his participation in the strike of the UAW motor union in Detroit (Michigan) last September – , managed to recover these states in 2020, and hopes to keep them in the November elections. “Five years ago, I announced my campaign here in Pittsburgh and told you we were going to rebuild the backbone of America, the working class,” he said, and repeated a common slogan of his campaign: “Wall Street did not build America, but the working class, and you, the unions, built the working class.”
Biden’s campaign is trying to account for his positive economic legacy. In the last two years of his mandate, he has managed to reduce inflation, which peaked in June 2022 (9.1%) and has stabilized at 3.5% year-on-year. Much of this drop is due to the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, which maintains interest rates at their highest level in the last 23 years, in the range between 5.25% and 5.50%. However, the president has the suspense of the American population on economic issues: only 34% believe that his management is better than Trump’s, according to the latest Reuters / Ipsos survey published this week.
