President Biden is calling on his administration to bolster tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Communist China in an effort to protect American manufacturers from low-cost imports and appeal to union laborers whose votes President Trump is also trying to secure. 

While speaking to the United Steelworkers Union at Pittsburgh, the heart of the American steel industry, Mr. Biden will ask the United States trade representative, Katherine Tai, to “consider tripling” the existing 7.5 percent tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum. That proposal depends on the findings of a four-year review that officials say they expect will be completed “soon.” 

Mr. Biden’s three-day trip through the swing state of Pennsylvania comes as he makes investment in American manufacturing a key pitch to voters, who give him low marks on his handling of the economy. Though the United Steelworkers endorsed Mr. Biden’s re-election last month, Mr. Trump, with a more populist agenda, is also garnering union support. Recent New York Times/Siena College polling shows the two candidates tied at 47 percent support among union members for 2024.

Mr. Trump has advocated for a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on imports, expanding upon the protectionist trade policies of his presidency. An analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund in March found that the tax increase would lead to a roughly $1,500 annual tax increase for the typical American household. Specific tariffs targeting a specific problem, the center argued, is a better way to boost American manufacturing and jobs. 

Officials are seeking to quell similar concerns surrounding Mr. Biden’s economic agenda that the potential tariffs could raise prices for domestic goods, hurt consumers, and exacerbate inflation. His actions “will protect American jobs and (the) steel industry,” CNN reported a senior official saying, and have “no impact on inflation at all.”

Mr. Biden will also announce on Wednesday protections for American shipbuilding, which is increasingly rivaled by the Chinese navy. He is launching a new trade representative investigation into “unfair Chinese trade practices” that flood the shipbuilding market with below-market-cost steel and undermine global competition.

That investigation follows a petition by United Steelworkers and four other labor unions calling upon Ms. Tai to probe the roots of Chinese dominance over the global maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors. These initiatives, Mr. Biden says, “are far more aggressive and interventionist than any other country.”

Last month, Mr. Biden took a stand against a $14 billion deal for Japan’s Nippon Steel to purchase United States Steel, which will go through pending approval of the Justice Department and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.