China implores US to drop tariffs that punish Americans and Chinese alike

Amid rising risks of inflation, the Biden administration may lift some tariffs on Chinese goods – punishing measures that analysts say have backfired on the US economy

Beijing’s request comes after it extended tariff exemptions on some US products in April for the seventh time

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With US President Joe Biden looking to cool inflation, some trade analysts say the time has come to lift punishing tariffs on Chinese goods. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:15pm, 11 May 2022Updated: 8:45pm, 11 May 2022

China has urged the Biden administration to remove tariffs on Chinese products, imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump, amid growing discourse in the United States over ways to tame the soaring inflation.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday said that he could drop some of the tariffs, while repeatedly blaming the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for rising costs.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that US exports to China since the trade war started in 2018 have dropped below the pre-war level, and that the US lost more than 240,000 jobs during the period.

“The data indicates that the trade war does nobody any good. It is time for the US government to reconsider and remove the tariffs as soon as possible,” Zhao said.

“There is no winner in a trade war or tariff war. The US’ unilateral tariffs imposed against China do not help us, nor do they benefit the US or the world.”

Last week, US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said her agency had started the expiry review of Section 301 tariffs of up to 25 per cent on Chinese products, with the first round to cover US$50 billion worth of Chinese products from July, when the tariffs will expire.