President Biden on Wednesday rolled out a number of actions aimed at protecting the U.S. steel industry from Chinese exports, while insisting former President Trump never thought of taking a competitive stance toward China. .
Biden is touting the new measures at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including considering tripling the current 7.5% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China. This includes requesting the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to do so.
The president will also promote competition with China, revitalize partnerships in the Pacific region with countries such as India, Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines, and seek advanced technology that cannot be sent to China to protect U.S. national security. He said he has. .
“Despite all the tough talk about China, my predecessor never would have thought to do something like that,” Biden said.
“The bottom line is that I want fair competition, not conflict with China. We’re investing in America and American workers again, so we can compete in the 21st century economy with China and other countries.” “We are in a stronger position to win the competition,” he added.
The president also argued that Trump and the Republican Party’s rhetoric about China being a rising power is wrong.
“Trump just doesn’t get it,” he said.
“America is on the rise. Our economy is the best in the world, and it is, and since I took office, our GDP has increased and our trade deficit with China has decreased. Yes,” the president added.
Biden said he asked other world leaders if they would be willing to trade places with China and discussed how Beijing “has a real problem.”
The president threw more punches at Trump throughout his speech, particularly criticizing him on job creation and attacking Trump’s schedule for this week. The former president was in a New York City courthouse on Monday and Tuesday for jury selection proceedings in his hush money case.
“So far, we have created 15 million new jobs, a record for a presidential term, with 492,000 new jobs created so far in Pennsylvania alone. “Under my busy predecessor, Pennsylvania lost 275,000 jobs,” Biden said.
Biden continues a three-day swing in key battleground states he won in 2020. The president currently holds a 0.2 percentage point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, according to an average of polls from Decision Desk and The Hill.
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