-Biden picks Chinese-American lawyer as trade rep
Following weeks of speculation over US president-elect Joe Biden’s stance toward China-US trade ties, with a lingering bruising trade war hanging overhead, a still-elusive but emerging image of the new US administration’s approach is slowly taking shape, as Biden continues to form his trade team that will primarily handle China-related issues, with the latest move being naming a Chinese-American trade lawyer as his top trade envoy.
Biden’s reported plan to pick Katherine Tai, a long-time trade lawyer who has litigated against China at the WTO, suggests both “offensive and defensive” approaches toward China. Her choice as US Trade Representative (USTR) further confirms the new administration’s “tough” stance toward China, while also seeking to unite allies and bolster competitiveness at home, Chinese trade analysts noted on Thursday. They noted that difficulties to resolve trade disputes will likely remain.
Several US media outlets reported on Thursday that Biden is planning to nominate Tai as the USTR. Tai is currently the chief trade counsel for Democratic lawmakers at the US House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee,. Once confirmed by the US Senate, Tai would face a flurry of pending trade issues, including tariff wars with not just China but also US allies.
However, among the top priorities for Tai, who is said to have extensive experience in China-related issues, having taught English in southern China and speaking Putonghua (standard Chinese), would be addressing lingering intricate issues with China, including implementation of a phase one trade agreement and US punitive tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese products – the legacy of the Trump administration.
Tai, who was also a lawyer at the USTR’s office on China-related trade issues between 2007 and 2014, has spoken critically of the Trump administration’s trade approach toward China, suggesting that Trump’s aggressive measures to confront China were “mostly defensive” and lacked an offensive approach.
“A good and progressive trade policy has to have offensive and defensive elements… The offense has got to be about what we are going to do to make ourselves, our workers, industries and allies faster, nimbler, be able to jump higher, be able to compete stronger,” Tai said at an online panel on US trade policy on August 5.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
