Joe Biden may favor easing tariffs on some consumer goods from China, but a key ally of the president’s says the timing would be off — and asserts that doing so wouldn’t much help tackle inflation.
In an interview on CNN Wednesday, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said: “We think it’s the wrong time to relax tariffs on China.” What’s more, added the labor-federation chief, “we think it would have a marginal impact at best on inflation.”
On Tuesday, the White House signaled some willingness to adjust some of former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, as MarketWatch reported.
Read: Biden White House signals interest in ending some of Trump’s China tariffs
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about an Axios report that said Biden was leaning toward removing some products from the Trump administration’s China tariffs list.
“Some Trump tariffs were irresponsible and do not advance our economic or national security and instead raise costs for families and businesses,” the press secretary told reporters. She added that she didn’t have an announcement about any decision “at this time.”
Shuler’s interview came a day after Biden addressed the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia, telling the organization that inflation is a global challenge and that the U.S. can fight it better than other countries thanks to his economic policies. He did not discuss tariffs in the speech.
Now read: White House acknowledges Americans are ‘concerned about inflation and the stock market,’ as S&P 500 erases all gains since Biden’s inauguration
U.S. stocks DJIA, +0.72% SPX, +1.16% COMP, +1.99% rose Wednesday, but were off session highs, as investors debated whether the Federal Reserve will later deliver the largest interest rate hike since 1994.
Read Market Snapshot.