“What Biden has done is emphasize that he prefers protectionism over decarbonizing the economy,” Robert Lawrence, director of the Trade Policy Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School, told The Hill. .
Among the new initiatives announced this week: china battery export It will probably be one of the most destructive single tariffs of the new tranche.
Tariffs are expected to have a particularly big impact on battery deployment, said Pranati Kohli, an analyst on BloombergNEF’s trade and supply chain team. Batteries used for energy storageSolar and wind power generation can be used even when the weather is not sunny or windy.
“There’s very little production in the U.S.” of this type of battery, Kohli said.
Additional tariffs on permanent magnets could cause problems, said Derrick Flacoll, a policy writer at Bloomberg. There are “big problems” with offshore wind power.
Rick Switzer, a former State Department official, was asked if tariffs on solar panels in particular would hinder the adoption of renewable energy in the United States.12 month delay In some areas of introduction. ”
But the Swiss prime minister said trade barriers imposed by tariffs also Promote investment in domestic industry and supply chains Redesigned to support the energy transition.
Switzer, who is in charge of science and technology issues at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said that “there are a lot of people who are sitting on the sidelines deciding whether or not to invest” in U.S. manufacturing, and this move could be a factor to encourage investment. He said there is.
The move comes as Mr. Biden is courting voters in battleground states, including major manufacturing hubs in Michigan and Georgia.
The administration’s move comes as President Trump and the Republican Party have broadly sought to paint the administration’s climate change policies as bad for American workers.
Trump told supporters in Ohio earlier this year that the auto industry would be in “a disaster” if he wasn’t elected, citing Biden’s efforts to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in the United States. Told.
Not all of the Biden administration’s policies take this same protectionist approach. The administration recently relaxed battery procurement requirements, allowing more cars to qualify for tax credits even if they contain minerals from China.
Read more when the article is published this weekend. TheHill.com from me and my colleague Tobias Burns.
