US should lift tariffs on China to battle inflation: business expert

LONDON -- The Biden administration should consider lifting the tariff and end the trade war with China to fight the current soaring inflation in the United States, said an opinion piece from Financial Times on Wednesday.

Amid the efforts and discussions to bring down the inflation, U.S. President Joe Biden has failed to mention removing the high tariffs on Chinese imports which was imposed by the Trump administration, wrote Amit Khandelwal, Chazen Professor of Global Business at Columbia Business School, in the newspaper.

In 2018 and 2019, the United States and China engaged in a trade war, noted Khandelwal, adding that when the U.S. producers are profiting from higher tariffs, the consumers, on the contrary, are hurt.

China also imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, which offset the benefits of protection for producers and increase exports for other countries, but not the United States, said Khandelwal.

Khandelwal said that imposing tariffs is not an effective way to boost manufacturing, but lifting them will reduce prices for U.S. consumers.

"Ending the trade war is the most immediate and effective policy in Biden's mission to bring relief to the American consumer," he concluded.