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U.S. has unveiled tariff increases on some Chinese imports

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Some will take effect on Aug. 1, USTR says

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Move aims to protect U.S. jobs from cheap Chinese imports

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China vows 'resolute measures' to protect its interests

(Adds details throughout on product categories, batteries,

rationale, Chinese response and U.S. Treasury's G7 agenda)

By David Shepardson and David Lawder

May 22 (Reuters) - Some of the steep U.S. tariff

increases on an array of Chinese imports, including electric

vehicles and their batteries, computer chips and medical

products, will take effect on Aug. 1, the U.S. Trade

Representative's office said on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden will keep tariffs put in place by

his Republican predecessor Donald Trump while ratcheting up

others, including a quadrupling of import duties on Chinese EVs

to over 100% and a doubling of semiconductor duties to 50%.

USTR said in a federal notice that a 30-day public comment

period will close June 28. The trade agency is seeking comments

on the effects of the proposed tariff increase on the U.S.

economy, including consumers, and on whether a proposed 25% duty

on medical facemasks, gloves and syringes should be higher.

The notice also provides specific tariff codes for some 387

product categories affected along with new duty rates and

implementation dates. Tariffs targeted to start in 2025 and 2026

will start on Jan. 1 for those years, USTR said.

The proposed Chinese tariff increases include "products

targeted by China for dominance, or are products in sectors

where the United States has recently made significant

investments."

Washington is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in

clean energy tax subsidies to develop U.S. EV, solar and other

new industries, and has said China's state-driven excess

production capacity in these sectors threatens the viability of

U.S. firms. The tariffs are meant to protect U.S. jobs from a

feared flood of cheap Chinese imports.

The new measures affect $18 billion in current imported

Chinese goods including steel and aluminum, semiconductors,

electric vehicles, critical minerals, solar cells and cranes,

the White House said. The EV figure may have more political than

practical impact in the U.S., which imports few Chinese EVs

because of prior vehicle tariffs.

BATTERIES LOOM LARGE

The largest two categories, making up $13.2 billion of the

targeted imports from China in 2023, are lithium-ion batteries,

according to U.S. Census Bureau trade data.

Duties of 25% are due to start in 2026 on the $10.9 billion

non-vehicle lithium-ion battery category, which has grown

quickly and is now the third-largest U.S. import category from

China after smartphones and personal computers.

The U.S. imported $427 billion in goods from China in 2023

and exported $148 billion to the world's No. 2 economy, a trade

gap that has persisted for decades and become an ever more

sensitive subject in Washington.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has said the revised

tariffs were justified because China was stealing U.S.

intellectual property. Tai has also recommended tariff

exclusions for hundreds of industrial machinery import

categories from China, including solar product manufacturing

equipment.

China's trade ministry could not immediately be reached for

comment, nor could its embassy in Washington.

China has denounced the tariff hikes and vowed "resolute

measures" to protect its interests. On Sunday, Beijing announced

a new anti-dumping probe on certain industrial plastics from the

U.S., Europe, Japan and Taiwan.

USTR said it would provide details on how companies could

apply for machinery exclusions from the tariffs in a separate

notice. But it said any exclusions granted would be backdated to

start on Wednesday and end on May 31, 2025.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday she was

pushing for G7 allies at a finance ministers meeting in Italy to

jointly push back on China's industrial policies, although she

said she was not asking them to mirror the new U.S. tariffs.

The G7 industrial democracies are the U.S., Japan, Germany,

France, Britain, Italy and Canada.