In re: Lois Eisenberg, “The Cost of Trump’s Tariffs,” letters, Jan. 4.
Two of the many things that Ms. Eisenberg never fails to ignore in her non-stop diatribes against former and current president-elect Donald J.Trump is that: 1) Trump is notorious for bluffing and overstating what he claims he is going to do; and 2) The tariffs she is claiming that he is going to impose on China were already imposed by her failed President Joseph Robinette Biden.
Here’s just a partial list of those tariffs on China as reported by the United States Trade Representative Federal Register notice detailing its final modifications to the Section 301 tariffs on China-origin products.
USTR has largely retained the proposed list of products subject to Section 301 tariffs announced in May 2024. Look it up, Ms. Eisenberg!
1. Steel and aluminum products – increase from 0-7.5% to 25%.
2. Electric vehicles – increase from 25% to 100%.
3. Lithium-ion EV batteries – increase from 7.5% to 25%.
4. Battery parts (non-lithium-ion batteries) – increase from 7.5% to 25%.
5. Certain critical minerals – increase from 0% to 25%.
6. Lithium-ion non-EV batteries – increase from 7.5% to 25%.
7. Natural graphite – increase from 0% to 25%.
8. Permanent magnets – increase from 0% to 25%.
9. Solar cells (whether or not assembled into modules) – increase from 25% to 50%.
10. Ship-to-shore cranes – increase from 0% to 25% (with certain exclusions).
11. Syringes and needles (excluding enteral syringes) – increase from 0% to 100%.
12. Enteral syringes – increase from 0% to 100%.
13. Surgical and non-surgical respirators and facemasks (other than disposable): increase from 0-7.5% to 25%.
14. Disposable textile facemasks – increase from 5% to 50%.
15. Rubber medical or surgical gloves: increase from 7.5% to 50%.
16. Semiconductors – increase from 25% to 50%.
Rick Barker
Valencia
