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America’s biggest auto export success was not present in Joe Biden’s recent appearance in Michigan’s workers state: the BMW. And none of the successful Toyota or Honda models were on display when the presidential candidate presented his industrial policy plans on Wednesday. Instead, the Democrat, who promised climate change, demonstratively positioned himself in front of a phalanx of massive Detroit pickup trucks and a massive American flag behind them. A sticker on the lectern emphasized Biden’s message in capital letters: “BUY AMERICAN.”
Europeans hope that a victory by the former vice president in the November elections will return to normal trade policy of the pre-Trump era: the end of widespread trade wars, the abolition of punitive tariffs on imports from the EU and China and the reopening of borders for the movement of people and goods.
But business partners could get a nasty surprise if Biden actually does move into the White House. The 77-year-old has shed his past as a free trader. During the election campaign, his campaign tries to make people forget that the Democrat once voted for the NAFTA treaty with Mexico and Canada, that he campaigned for the trans-Pacific partnership agreement, and that he was in favor of normalizing relations with China. Because with those positions there are no elections to win in America 2020.
Instead, to win back the white workforce in the belt of industrial rust, Biden penetrates deep into his adversary’s territory: the terrain of economic populism. During the campaign appearance in the city of Warren, where General Motors closed its transmission plant last year, Biden did not accuse Trump of hurting the American economy with his protectionism, but instead criticized him for not keeping his promises. Instead of returning jobs to the United States, the Trump administration has increased the number of orders from suppliers that manufacture abroad. He, Biden, on the other hand, will use the $ 600 billion procurement budget to “support American jobs and business.”
Threat of an extraterritorial tax for dissident corporations
Biden’s Buy American initiative was so openly copied from Trump’s 2016 hit screenplay “America First” that the latter has already accused it of plagiarism. But now the Democrat, who praised his 1967 Corvette in front of the auto unions in Warren, has started to get ahead of the Trumponomics lane:
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According to his plan, American companies producing abroad should pay a fine in the future. “If your corporate strategy is to increase your shareholders’ earnings and your CEO bonuses by taking jobs out of America, we will not only make sure you pay all American taxes on those earnings,” Biden threatened from the economy: “We will add a additional ten percent of extraterritorial taxes to your invoice “.
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At the same time, Biden promises a 10 percent “Made in America” tax discount to industrial companies that invest at home: when they reopen a plant, they expand, modernize, regain jobs, or raise workers’ wages.
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While the Trump administration has allowed a company to mark travel bags for soldiers as American, which were actually made primarily in China, it will stop any “Made in America” label fraud, according to Biden.
He too apparently wants to avoid annoying negotiations with Parliament. In the “first week in the White House” he promised to sign executive orders for his offensive. “Made in Michigan, Made in America, invested in our communities and workers in places like Warren,” Biden yelled to the audience and live cameras, “That’s what it’s all about.”
On the other hand, little is known about him on the subject that is on the nails of Europeans. A radical change in trade policy is not a priority if the election is won, the campaign said. Because despite the economic losses, many Americans sympathize with Trump’s harsh crackdown on China in particular.
Biden has also hardened his rhetoric against Beijing during the election campaign. He sees Europe as an ally, but they shouldn’t expect any quick fix. “I don’t see any scenario where you can lift these tariffs in your first six to 12 months in office,” Nathan Sheets, a former secretary of state in the Obama administration, told Reuters.
A President Biden will change the tone of Washington, but not necessarily the policy: “I will use tariffs when necessary,” he wrote to the steel workers union in May. “The difference between Trump and me is that I will have a strategy, a plan, to win with these tariffs, not just feign strength.”
Business partners are unlikely to like this plan.
