The administration has limited options to lower prices for American consumers but knows it will be punished in this fall’s midterms if higher prices persist throughout the year.

Providing so-called “exclusions” for some goods — not subjecting them to the Section 301 tariffs imposed by Trump — is one tool the current president has at his disposal.

But Biden, like his predecessor, has pursued a confrontational approach toward China, and officials have been reluctant to relax the tariffs without extracting something in return.

In August 2019, Trump imposed $300 billion worth against China, saying it had failed to follow through on promises to buy more American agricultural products and stem the sales of fentanyl.