Biden administration to revisit Trump-era trade agreement with China

The Biden administration will revisit the phase one trade agreement signed with China last year, a senior official said on Monday. The world's two largest economies had spent 18 months embroiled in a bitter trade dispute. Former president Trump had launched the trade war with China in 2018 demanding Beijing to reduce the massive trade deficit. The Biden administration is seeking to work with its allies and like-minded partners towards building an international trading system that is fair and allows for healthy competition

Washington:The Biden administration will revisit the phase one trade agreement signed with China last year, a senior official said on Monday, asserting that the US Trade Representative will soon resume direct engagement with her Chinese counterpart to outline a new approach to the bilateral relationship.

In January last year, the US signed the first phase of the trade deal with China, which former president Donald Trump described as historic, concluding more than a year of tough negotiations, including several months of suspension of talks between the two largest economies of the world. The agreement was signed by Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Politburo Member and Vice-Premier of China.

The first phase of the trade deal includes Intellectual Property (IP) Protection and Enforcement, ending forced technology transfer, dramatic expansion of American agriculture, removing barriers to American financial services, ending currency manipulation, rebalancing the US-China trade relationship and effective dispute resolution. US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai is scheduled to deliver a major policy address on this issue later in the day.

“We will revisit the phase one agreement and emphasise that China must follow through on the commitments it has made. “Second, we will start a targeted tariff-exclusion process. We will also keep open the potential for additional exclusion processes in the future,” the senior administration official said ahead of her speech.

“Third, in the coming days, Ambassador Tai will resume direct engagement with her counterpart in China. This will include discussions with China regarding its commitments under phase one, but it will also be a chance for Ambassador Tai to reiterate that the United States will defend itself, using all available tools, from state-directed industrial policies that harm our workers, producers, and overall economic interests,” the official said.

According to the official, the Biden administration will work with its allies and like-minded partners towards building an international trading system that is fair and allows for healthy competition.

In her remarks at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to outline the new approach to the US-China bilateral trade relationship, Tai will lay out the initial steps of the administration's long-term strategy to create a level playing field for American workers and businesses and strengthen the middle class.

“I have said this before and I will continue to say it: the US-China trade and economic relationship is one of the profound consequences. As the two largest economies in the world, how we relate to each other does not just affect our two countries. It impacts the entire world and billions of workers,” Tai was quoted as saying by the USTR.

"When it comes to our relationship with China, what's best for American workers is growing the American economy to create more opportunity and more jobs with better wages here in the United States,” Tai said.

In the coming days, Tai said, she intends to have frank conversations with my counterpart in China.

The world's two largest economies had spent 18 months embroiled in a bitter trade dispute that imposed tit-for-tat levies on each other's commodities, mechanical parts and finished goods. Trump had launched the trade war with China in 2018 demanding Beijing to reduce the massive trade deficit.

His demands included an intrusive verification mechanism to supervise Beijing's promise to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) technology transfer and more access to American goods to Chinese markets.

(PTI)