Biden Administration Reviewing Additional Tariffs Imposed by Previous Administration

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki indicated on 2 February that the Biden administration is currently reviewing the additional tariffs imposed by the previous administration on a broad range of products from mainland China and various other sources under Section 301, Section 232 and other relevant statutes. These tariffs are therefore likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Psaki noted that a review of the trade policy of the previous administration “is underway” and includes its “decisions on tariffs,” but she gave no indication as to when the review might be concluded. These comments were made following an announcement that the United States would not eliminate the 10 percent Section 232 tariff on aluminium articles imported from the United Arab Emirates, reversing a decision by former President Trump before he left office.

The tariff on aluminium imports from the UAE was to have been removed as of 3 February and replaced with a quota. However, in a 1 February proclamation President Biden said available evidence indicates that imports from the UAE (which a New York Times article said shipped more aluminium to the United States than any other country except Canada in 2020) may still displace domestic production and thereby threaten to impair U.S. national security. For example, the proclamation said, 32 of 33 requests for exclusions from the tariff have been denied by the U.S. Department of Commerce, indicating “the large degree of overlap between imports from the UAE and what our domestic industry is capable of producing.” Psaki said on 2 February that the decision to lift this tariff “was made clearly, in our view, on the basis of foreign policy issues unrelated to trade.”