Washington | The Biden administration will increase tariffs on $US18 billion ($27.2 billion) worth of Chinese products in an election-year move that increases friction between the world’s two largest economies.

Following a four-year review on trade with China, President Joe Biden will not only keep the tariffs put in place by Donald Trump but also ratchet up others, including a quadrupling of electric vehicle duties to more than 100 per cent, a doubling of the duties on semiconductor tariffs to 50 per cent, and a more than threefold increase on the tariff on lithium-ion EV batteries and critical minerals.