The Biden White House came out in strong opposition to former President Donald Trump's floated proposal of a 10% tax on all foreign imports, claiming it would raise costs for lower- and middle-income Americans.
Trump recently announced that, if elected in 2024, he would "automatically" set a 10% tariff for all foreign imports, a move that even some Republicans do not support.
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The former president told Fox Business's Larry Kudlow that his plan would put "a ring around the collar" of the U.S. economy.
“When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically," he stated. "I do like the 10% for everybody."
White House officials told the Washington Examiner that Trump's plan would roll back the economic progress ushered in on President Joe Biden's watch.
"President Biden’s top priority is to protect the higher wages, lower costs, and progress against global inflation he’s delivering for middle-class families — which has now forced inflation lower in the United States than any wealthy peer country," White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. "That means continuing to bring jobs back to America at the strongest pace in decades, an unfulfilled promise from the last administration that this president is making a reality, and continuing to work together with our allies against trade abuses committed by countries like China.
"President Biden strongly opposes plans to hurt hardworking families with higher prices and higher inflation — as even economists who served in the Trump White House warn such an agenda would," he continued. "Combining a sweeping tariff tax on the middle class with more trickle-down tax welfare for rich special interests would stifle economic growth and fuel inflation."
The heavy tariffs Trump put in place on China helped pave the way for the Phase One trade deal he signed just before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Biden, upon entering office, promised a full-scale review of the previous administration's China policies, but the president has not amended Trump's baseline taxes, even after China failed to meet its commitments outlined in Trump's trade deal.