on US$18 billion worth of imports from China, targeting strategic sectors like electric vehicles, batteries, steel and critical minerals, the White House said on Tuesday .
The action is aimed at encouraging China to"eliminate its unfair trade practices regarding technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation", it added in a statement. Beyond EVs and semiconductors, Washington is roughly tripling tariffs on some steel and aluminium products, and on lithium-ion EV batteries and battery parts.
Beijing's foreign ministry said it"opposes unilateral tariff hikes in violation of WTO rules" when asked about reports of the new measures. The Biden administration has pumped massive funding into areas like semiconductor manufacturing and research, alongside efforts to boost green investments."As a result of unfair practices, China's anticipated manufacturing capacity in solar is more than double the forecasts of near term global demand," she said.
But tariffs covering EV batteries and supply chains would be"a much bigger issue, because of the dominance of Chinese companies in the finished battery space and for critical mineral across the battery supply space", he said.But he does not expect US levies alone to upset current stability in US-China ties.