Joe Biden wants to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, saying it’s “unfair” competition for American workers, in a new gesture to the working class amid his re-election campaign.

The White House today denounced “China’s policy and subsidies to the steel and aluminum industries.” Biden, who is hoping for re-election in November’s presidential election, has asked his administration’s trade representative (USTR) to consider tripling the tariffs, which currently average 7.5 percent, on some imported steel and aluminum.

Joe Biden will be in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today, a city with a heavy industrial past, on the second day of his tour of this ambiguous State. The Democratic president wants to convince voters that he is the best ally for workers and unions and will visit the USW. He recently secured the support of that union because he opposed the takeover of US steel giant US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel.

The Biden administration also announced today that it is launching an investigation into China’s “unfair practices in shipbuilding, shipping and logistics.” The investigation was commissioned by the trade representative (USTR) and is in response to the request of trade unions who argue that China’s policy is “much more aggressive and intrusive” than any other country.

The charges “reflect what we’ve already seen in other sectors,” trade spokeswoman Catherine Tye said, pledging to investigate the matter fully and thoroughly.

“Steel is a key material for the nation’s shipbuilding industry,” the White House said. “Steel produced in the U.S. remains essential to our economic and domestic security,” he added, explaining that “high-quality American products compete with those that are artificially cheap and produced with higher carbon dioxide emissions.”

These announcements come against a backdrop of intense rivalry with China, despite renewed dialogue between the two countries and measures to limit US reliance on Chinese industry.

The Biden administration cites “growing concerns that China’s unfair trade practices, notably flooding the market with below-market steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and competition.”

Concerns about the oversupply of the Chinese metals industry intensified after a slowdown in the Chinese construction sector, which freed up a large volume of products for export. With its manufacturing sector, the engine of its growth, slowing, China is massively subsidizing some industries, despite subdued international demand. The European Union accuses Beijing of distorting its market by flooding it with cheap goods – and not just metals. In Latin America, the sector is also concerned and calls for taxes on imports.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a week after her visit to Beijing, met yesterday, Tuesday, in Washington with her Chinese counterpart, as part of the spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. The issue of China’s overproduction was discussed again.

The US government says it has doubled investment for new US factories since January 2021 and created about 80,000 jobs in the sector since Joe Biden took office.