The White House unveils a pair of bad policies to woo voters
Tariffs for steelworkers and loan forgiveness for students are both regressive
It is a Washington truism that little gets done in Congress during an election year. This means that pandering politicians, and particularly the president, need to get creative. Consider two recent moves by President Joe Biden to shore up support among blocs traditionally supportive of the Democratic Party.
On April 17th Mr Biden called for a 25% tariff on certain Chinese steel and aluminium products; in some cases that amounts to more than tripling existing import taxes. This is in addition to tariffs put in place by Donald Trump on some products. Mr Biden also told a steelworkers’ union that his administration will investigate Chinese shipbuilding subsidies and work with Mexico to block Chinese tariff evasion.
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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Regressive Democrats”
United States April 20th 2024
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