President Joe Biden’s move to triple tariffs to 25% on imported Chinese steel is an electoral effort to steal the clothes of former President Donald Trump.
Trump made tariffs his issue during his first term in the White House. It was part of his appeal to blue-collar workers who felt, and still feel, betrayed by the ruling class and globalism.
Democrats have become the party of the rich, of news media, of entertainers and other elites, and much as Biden wants to hold that corps together — after all, it dominates opinion forming — he is worried about dwindling support in the more numerous working classes.
He’s particularly concerned that racial minorities, who are more heavily represented in lower-income groups, are drifting away from the blue party to Republicans, which could doom his chances of reelection.
So, the Oval Office swamp creature, whose family peddled his name to Chinese and other overseas bad guys for millions of dollars in exchange for God knows what, traveled briefly to his birthplace, hardscrabble Scranton, Pennsylvania, to tout his blue-collar origins and higher steel tariffs.
He initiated a call and response by bellowing of the Chinese, “They’re not competing. They’re cheating, and we’ve seen the damage here in America. … Are we going to let that happen again?”
“No!” came the inevitable reply.
China is doing everything it can to damage America and doubtless is as guilty as Biden says and Trump said before him. There is no quibble with the substance of the president’s accusations. But there is plenty of room to doubt the worth and wisdom of his remedy.
First, tariffs are a tax on the purchasers, Americans, and have a poor record of achieving their supposed aims of raising revenues and protecting domestic industry, jobs, and incomes.
But even setting that aside, is it electorally wise for Biden to present himself to voters as a protectionist trade war guy? If they come to believe trade war is a good thing and want a trade warrior in the White House, aren’t they likely to see Trump fitting that role better than Johnny-come-lately Biden? It’s like Coke versus Pepsi, with a big problem for the latter. People tend to choose the real thing.
Biden going to steel country and lambasting China essentially declares, “Trump got it right a decade ago so, er, don’t vote for him, vote for me.” It’s not coherent or compelling. But Biden has implied the same thing throughout his presidency by keeping Trump’s tariffs in place. There is room to doubt that he can trump Trump on this issue.
Lael Brainard, director of the National Economic Council, added another oddity to the Biden message when she said that not only is China cheating, but China is also producing more pollution in manufacturing, “undercutting American steel that is clean.”
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But if Biden genuinely thinks clean American production important, why doesn’t he encourage the domestic fossil fuel energy industry rather than discouraging investment with harangues in favor of unattainable green energy goals that stoke dirty fossil fuel output in places such as Russia and China?
White House rhetoric might backfire; “undercutting American energy that is clean” might resonate against Biden in November.
