Lifting tariffs on goods may make sense: US Commerce Chief Gina Raimondo

President Joe Biden's commerce chief said it “may make sense” to lift tariffs on some goods as a way to tame the hottest inflation in almost four decades.

“Steel and aluminum -- we've decided to keep some of those tariffs because we need to protect American workers and we need to protect our steel industry; it's a matter of national security,” Gina Raimondo said in an interview Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.” “There are other products — household goods, bicycles — it may make sense,” she said, when asked if the administration would consider ending duties on billions of dollars of imports from China.

“I know the president is looking at that,” Raimondo said. “Anyone who brings him a good idea that he thinks will help American families, he's open to doing it.”

Biden's team is weighing what to do with former President Donald Trump's tariffs on about $300 billion of goods imported from the US economy's biggest rival. While some businesses have benefited from the tariffs protecting them from Chinese import competition, companies that use the goods as inputs in areas including manufacturing have been hurt.