claim: Tariffs are a “direct, regressive tax on Americans” and President Joe Biden’s new tariffs on Chinese goods will “hit every family.”
evidence: President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump will be America’s two presidential candidates in 2024 and their approaches to economic competition with China will prominently feature in the 2024 presidential debate. They each have a body of work over their first term in office to evaluate the results of their policies toward China. On the surface, their approaches are similar. Both presidents view themselves as "self-strengtheners," leaders who prioritize bolstering America’s economic prosperity. Trump adopted tariffs on Chinese imports and Biden upheld them. There also are some rhetorical through lines in how the Trump and Biden administrations have talked about economic competition with China. [...] The ensuing trade war cost the U.S. economy nearly 300,000 jobs. The tariffs served as a regressive tax on imported goods that were primarily borne by American consumers. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Columbia University found that U.S. companies lost at least $1.7 trillion in stock value from U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. [...] In an apparent nod to the political salience of Trump’s tariffs, the Biden administration has not removed or lowered the China tariffs it inherited. Even though the tariffs are inflationary, and despite the fact that Biden and members of his team slammed the tariffs during the 2020 election campaign, the tariffs remain in place. This constancy likely reflects Biden’s political instincts. Even if he lacks conviction on the policy merits of sustaining the tariffs, Biden recognizes that removing them would carry greater political costs than benefits.