All over the planet, customs barriers are being erected and the tone is rising against China’s giant surpluses

A worker polishes gas cylinders at a factory in Ruichang, in Jiangxi province, central China, September 25, 2024. STRINGER / AFP Haro on China! The United States is increasing, from Friday September 27, customs duties on a whole series of Chinese products, including electric vehicles (+ 100%), lithium batteries (+ 25%), photovoltaic cells (+ 50%), but also steel and aluminum (+ 25%). Others are planned for 2025, for example on semiconductors (+ 50%) or, in 2026, on graphite (+ 25%), a mineral highly sought after for its electrical conductivity. American President Joe Biden justified these increases in May by “China’s unfair trade practices in terms of transfer of technology, intellectual property and innovation”, accusing it in passing of “flooding global markets of its artificially low-priced exports. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers The world is trying to curb the surge in low-cost Chinese steel Add to your selections The targeted products are those from the industry linked to the energy transition, which the Democratic administration is seeking to develop in the United States. United thanks to its massive program of subsidies and tax credits called IRA (Inflation Reduction Act), launched in 2022. Not only has Mr. Biden retained the tariffs put in place from 2018 by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, but he increased them, although in a lesser proportion. In the run-up to the November 5 presidential election, Mr. Trump said that “tariffs [étaient] the best thing that [ait] Never [été] invented.” The gains from this trade war are mainly political. Until now, it has mainly fueled inflation in the United States and reduced gross domestic product growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points, according to Oxford Economics. Certainly, the country reduced its volume of imports from China by 18% between 2017 and 2023, but tariff barriers have not necessarily reduced the trade deficit, which increased from 621 billion to 773 billion dollars (from 557 billion to 694 billion euros) between 2018 and 2023. Effect of the economic situation The drop in trade between the two powers would in reality be a sham: Chinese products arrive in the United States mainly via third countries, like Mexico, which will become their first trading partner in 2023… ahead of China. Donald Trump has promised, if elected in November, to impose a 200% customs duty on Chinese vehicles coming from Mexico. According to the Bloomberg agency, the Biden administration would like to ban the sale of vehicles connected with Chinese and Russian technology in the name of “national security”, which, in fact, would close the door to Chinese brands, wherever ‘they come. The trade war is therefore far from over. You have 61.36% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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