Joe Biden’s Utter Ineptitude on Trade Policy 

The Biden administration is, once again, displaying a complete and total lack of competence on issues of international policy. Earlier this year, the prospect of President Biden rolling back some of the Trump-era tariffs on Chinese imports seemed very real. Now, it appears as though the administration has collectively shrugged its shoulders by keeping all of the original tariffs in place. The media, though, has failed to adequately cover this shocking abdication of presidential leadership. Though the issue of tariffs may seem obscure to many, its implications cannot be understated. Ultimately, we are talking about American manufacturing, foreign relations, national security, and the economy writ large. Why, though, have Joe Biden’s handlers failed to pursue the tariff question in any meaningful way?

The fact of the matter is that the Trump tariffs are popular. On June 6th of this year, the United Steelworkers union wrote an impassioned letter to the office of the United States Trade Representative defending the Trump tariffs. “The overall tariffs that have been imposed, and the breadth of the sectors and products involved, were designed to address both the CCP’s policies and practices, and the impact on our economy, producers, and workforce,” the union wrote. “The tariffs… all play a part in leveling the playing field, and are an important component of the overall posture with China.” 

Steel tariffs, in particular, have had a serious effect on U.S. manufacturing. President Trump boldly imposed a whopping 25% tariff on steel imports into the U.S. Between that and the 10% aluminum tariff, we’re looking at roughly $40 billion in import duties. In total, duties on Chinese imports equate to about $300 billion. At this point, it should be abundantly clear that we are not talking about small potatoes here. Tariffs matter. 

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Initially, the Biden administration posited that a rollback of the Trump-era tariffs would ease inflationary woes at home. This claim, however, is patently false. A study from the Peterson Institute, which actively promotes trade liberalization, deduced that a reduction in the China tariffs would have a negligible effect on inflation: “Chinese imports account for just 2 percent of goods included in the CPI measurements. As such, the direct impact of the tariffs on measurements of inflation has been limited. Their removal, while improving economic efficiency, would only marginally ease US inflation.”

This study alone effectively dispels the Biden administration’s claims that removal of the tariffs would benefit consumers in any tangible way. Derek Scissors, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that the administration is missing the goal post entirely. “Really, none of this matters very much to inflation,” he explained. “Current inflation is highway sign inflation. It’s gas, food, lodging. We don’t import any of that from China. So what’s causing prices to go up, what’s causing consumers to feel pinched is not going to be affected by removing China tariffs. The tariffs were imposed in 2018 and 2019. Obviously, they didn’t cause inflation then.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were, without a doubt, the most vocal proponents of tariff reduction in Biden’s cabinet. Kathryn Tai, the U.S. Trade Representative, on the other hand, was much more dubious about the prospect of lifting import duties on Chinese goods. She rightly contested that doing so would harm U.S. manufacturing and put us at a strategic disadvantage with China. This all, however, proves that Biden’s team is profoundly ideologically incoherent on the tariff question. 

As of now, the Trump tariffs have prevailed, and it seems as though Biden wishes the issue would just go away. Instead of leading the charge on trade policy, Biden has cowered in the fear of challenging a successful Trump-era policy. While Trump still remains “The Tariff Man,” Biden has claimed the title of “The Man Who Has No Clue What the Hell He is Doing.” One thing is very clear to me: Trump was perhaps the most competent and aggressive president on trade next to the great William McKinley.