U.S. Trade Rep. on Keeping Trump Tariffs: Studies Showed They Weren't Inflationary

During an interview aired on Tuesday's broadcast of NPR's “Morning Edition,” U.S. Trade Representative Amb. Katherine Tai responded to concerns that the Biden administration's China tariff regime, which includes keeping tariffs from the Trump administration, will be inflationary by stating that “we've seen studies debunk the link between these tariffs and inflation.” And that not being dependent on China will allow for protection against the inflation we've had due to supply issues over the past few years.

Co-host Michel Martin asked, [relevant exchange begins around 4:15] “[T]he administration has been reviewing the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. You're keeping some of these tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of other Chinese goods, which were originally set by Trump. What do you say to people who argue that inflation is coming down, but it's still high, and this raises prices on goods at a time when Americans could use the relief?”

Tai responded, “Well, I think we've seen studies debunk the link between these tariffs and inflation. More importantly, being able to invest in our industry means that we are investing in supply-chain resilience. We're investing in our manufacturing capacities, which will allow for us to defend against the kind of inflationary price spikes that we've had over the last couple of years, where supply was restricted and we weren't able to respond.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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