US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Monday that she plans to raise “serious concerns” with her Chinese counterparts during planned meetings this week.
Tsai said she believes China is not upholding its end of the Phase One trade deal, which came into effect in 2020. “There are things that appear that they have not done,” she told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“We continue to have serious concerns with China’s state-centered and nonmarket trade practices that were not addressed in the phase one deal. As we work to enforce the terms of phase one, we will raise these broader policy concerns with Beijing,” Tsai said.
So far, the Biden administration has kept all Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods in effect. Tsai said the US will start a “targeted tariff exclusion process” for certain goods, signaling that most tariffs will remain.
The exclusion process will consider requests from US companies that want to purchase Chinese goods. Studies have shown that US importers and businesses are bearing the brunt of the tariff cost, and US business groups have called on the Biden administration to end the policy.
Echoing other Biden officials, Tsai said the US is working with allies to counter China. “The core of our strategy is a commitment to ensuring we work with our allies to create fair and open markets,” she said.
Tsai claimed the US doesn’t want to “inflame” trade tensions with China, but it’s clear her approach is the same hardline one the Trump administration pursued.
Other Biden officials have been more hawkish in their rhetoric against Beijing. Last week, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the US must work with its European allies to slow China’s “innovation.”
It’s a scam. The US market place lost its edge and as a result our living standards. We added tariffs to support industry in… where? Well it ain’t the US! Some are making more profit and it ain’t you!
I just returned from Europe. The prices of Chinese goods in Europe are much lower than in the US. The US placed tariffs on Chinese goods that would give South Korean and Taiwanese products an advantage. South Korean and Taiwanese products are much more expensive than Chinese products.
Let’s think this through for a moment. Raise your hand if you want to pay double for your refrigerator? No? Why? You need to see more propaganda against China? Did I forget to mention how badly they pollute? Ok, then… Just trust us and pay more.
Yes, the neocons have bested the neolibs on this one. Power has shifted on China policy from Wall St. to the Pentagon. And, after all, the Warfare State would always have rank.
Maybe my math is wrong, but no matter how I slice and dice it, I’m coming up with neocons = neolibs in the end.
Their membership is identical, but “the gun” is logically (and chronologically) prior to the business man. The Mafia is a good model, -the goon squad lays
the foundation, the “business climate” as they say.