The Biden administration enacted new trade tariffs against China that will significantly raise taxes on imported EVs, semiconductors, and solar panels. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance, President Biden called the tariffs a matter of "being fair" as China floods consumer markets with cheaper products from its leading manufacturing sectors.
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Jared Bernstein joins Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi, echoing Biden's sentiments on the protections these tariffs will allow for American workers and industry.
"[It's] very unfair, whether it's forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, or, in this case, developing excess capacity and essentially dumping under price to areas here where this president has made really transformational investments," Bernstein tells Yahoo Finance. "That's not just unfair today, that has unfair implications for the future. So with this move, the president protects American investors, American workers, the American taxpayer, all by blocking unfair trade in a strategic and targeted manner."
Unlike the tariffs proposed by former President Trump in his current presidential bid, Bernstein explains Biden's "targeted" policies will "help producers" while not harming consumers. The administration hopes to combat inflationary pressures through tariffs as households tangle with a variety of economic factors.
"Yes, we have an anti-inflationary agenda... if we can build out American capacity, protecting it from unfair competition from China, that's gonna help on the supply side, and that helps put some downward pressure on inflation," Bernstein elaborates. "But inflation is not the same as the price level, right? You can have inflation growing more slowly, but prices still rising. So we are trying to cut costs, actually cut prices in key areas for the American consumer."
Watch Yahoo Finance's broadcast of the White House event where President Biden spoke on the tariffs.
Brian Sozzi also sat down with President Biden in an exclusive interview to discuss what these new trade policies hope to achieve.
This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.