As the U.S. grapples with skyrocketing gasoline costs and inflation, President Joe Biden's administration is reportedly planning to remove some tariffs on China and pause the federal gas tax.
While focusing on Bejing’s strategic relations, the Biden administration is exploring all alternatives as it analyses prospective changes to U.S. levies on Chinese imports, which include tariff relief and recent trade investigations.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that a few tariffs on China transferred from previous President Donald Trump's administration had no strategic purpose, and that the Biden government was contemplating reducing the same to counter inflation.
It is also worth noting that the U.S. is facing the highest inflation and increased gasoline prices which is currently at record levels in 40 years.
In an interview, Yellen also said the administration was examining its China tariff policy and acknowledged that China participates in a variety of unfair trade practices that must be addressed. She also called inflation unacceptably high and predicted that the economy will slow down eventually.
The Federal Reserve, Chief executives, and the Biden administration are all concerned about whether the United States, the world's largest economy, would officially enter a recession. While the recession is inevitable the officials claim the labor market and consumer spending activities to remain strong.
Amid a nasty trade battle between the world's two largest economies, President Biden has said he is considering reducing some of his predecessor's tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods in 2018 and 2019.
However, some believe that tariffs are necessary for expanding industrial capacity to offset China's manufacturing dominance and that they haven't contributed to higher costs. Tariffs can only benefit manufacturing jobs if they raise prices, and hence it appears that these advocates can't have it both ways, experts claimed.
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