A 100% increase in tariffs for cine electric cars, a 25% increase for electric vehicle batteries and a 50% increase for age cells was announced by USgovernment, which from 27 September puts in place new tariffs on Chinese products of strategic sectors.

Meanwhile, from 1 January 2025, tariffs on semiconductors will increase by 50%.

The tariff increase was announced in May by Joe Biden, and is one of the issues dominating the campaign ahead of the presidential election.

The increases “will target the harmful policies and practices of China that continue to punish American workers and businesses,” U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tigh said in a statement. The Biden-Harris administration’s decisions underscore that it is committed “to standing up for workers and businesses against unfair trade practices,” she added.

A $18 billion increase in tariffs on products

The White House had announced on May 14 a significant increase in tariffs on Chinese products, amounting to $18 billion, for sectors of the economy deemed “strategically important”. “We will never allow it to control the market” for electric cars, Biden had said at the time, noting that it was “impossible for our own automakers to compete honestly.”

Tigh said that “the changes proposed in May 2024 have largely been approved” and released a 100-page document detailing the products, the amount of tariffs and the dates when the increases would take effect.

Trump-Harris feud

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, intends, if elected, to raise tariffs again by 10-20% on products imported from certain countries. In their teleconference on Tuesday, his opponent Camala Harris said this would be a “consumption tax” that ultimately American consumers would be asked to pay. She also accused him of starting “economic wars” with China and the European Union when he was president.

Trump did indeed start a trade war with China and imposed additional tariffs on imported Chinese goods. Joe Biden’s administration has largely maintained those tariffs.