Kamala keeps telling us that increased tariffs would be a “sales tax” on the American people, yet:
“Biden Administration Ratchets Up Tariffs on Chinese Goods,” read the headline from the New York Times last Friday. The new Biden-Harris measures will “add tariffs to Chinese products worth tens of billions of dollars” on “clothing, solar panels, electric vehicles, syringes, steel, and other goods that China has been selling at far cheaper prices than many American businesses, threatening to put U.S. factories out of business,” the New York Times reported.
. . . .
the Biden-Harris administration also “published a long-awaited review of the tariffs that the Trump administration placed on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods beginning in 2018,” according to the New York Times. Anyone hoping that the Biden-Harris report would condemn Trump’s policies will be deeply disappointed.
“The report … concluded that the Trump tariffs had been effective in reducing U.S. exposure to harmful trade practices from China, and that they should be maintained,” the New York Times said. “The report also said that the tariffs contributed to U.S. companies shifting their sourcing out of and away from China. China’s overall share of U.S. imports fell to 13.7 percent in 2023 from 21.6 percent in 2017.”
Of course Trump‘s overblown rhetoric about imposing 20% across–the-board tariffs is ridiculous, but at a minimum Kamala could be honest about how selectively-applied tariffs that the Trump administration imposed and that the Biden/Harris administration is now increasing can be effective in reducing imports from our enemies, even if inflationary.
