US tariff wrongdoing threatens world's climate efforts

By Li Yang

Beijing vowed on Tuesday to take "resolute measures to defend its rights and interests" in response to the Joe Biden administration's announcement of increased tariffs on a slew of Chinese products, citing China's subsidies, overcapacity and national security concerns.

US President Joe Biden announced the tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles will rise to 100 percent, quadrupling the current tariff of 25 percent. The Biden administration is also doubling tariffs on Chinese semiconductors from 25 percent to 50 percent and increasing tariffs on Chinese medical supplies, batteries, critical minerals and ship-to-shore cranes.

China's Ministry of Commerce has denounced the move, saying the tariff hikes violate Biden's commitment to "not seek to suppress and contain China's development".

The latest move has again triggered doubts that the Biden administration will embrace the three principles it has proposed for Sino-US ties, namely mutual respect, peaceful co-existence and win-win cooperation.

Despite new channels and mechanisms being launched between the two sides to strengthen cooperation on climate issues, drug control and artificial intelligence, bilateral tensions have continued to escalate due to a series of moves by the Biden administration, the tariff hikes being but the latest.  

The bullying and coercive way in which it tries to define what it says are "the most consequential" bilateral ties is estranging an otherwise proven reliable partner in various fields.

While China's countermeasures against the US' punitive tariffs might be nonreciprocal — retaliation is not something China chooses to do but something it is forced to do — the US side should weigh its gains and losses with foresight.

As history shows, an environment that eradicates competitors will not spur US automakers' green innovations, and while few Chinese-made EVs are currently sold in the US, the raised tariffs on Chinese EV batteries and battery parts, as well as graphite and other minerals will affect a broad range of vehicles.

But as China's Ministry of Commerce said, the abuse of the Section 301 tariff review procedure is out of domestic political considerations.

With the US presidential election looming, the Biden administration refuses to join hands with Beijing to promote the green transition that is imperative for the world. Instead, Biden is using the tariffs to appeal to voters in swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and to demonstrate to the US public that it is winding the clock back to the Cold War era so that it can adroitly use its old tactics to win a zero-sum competition with China that exists only in the minds of US politicians and strategists.

That being said, the US fails to see that any short-term gains it might make in thwarting China's prowess in green technologies will only be detrimental to itself in the long-run as such efforts will only impede progress on realizing the green transition that is crucial to avoiding catastrophic climate change.