The Obama Administration is committed to developing our domestic biofuels industry in order to reduce US dependence on oil imports and increase our use of renewable energy sources. There has been no change of policy with respect to the U.S. import surcharge of $0.54 a gallon on ethanol. The Administration has no plans to seek changes to the import surcharge.
Here's my question, though: If the goal is to reduce oil imports and increase the use of renewable energy sources, wouldn't lower prices for biofuels be a good way to achieve this, and doesn't the tariff raise the price and therefore undermine this goal? It seems to me that the real goal of the tariff is "developing our domestic biofuels industry," which may help a bit with the other goals, but is not necessarily the best way to achieve them.
