Status: 04.10.2021 5:05 p.m.
In the election campaign, US President Biden actually held out the prospect of an end to the special tariffs against China. Now he wants to stick to the tough course of his predecessor Trump.
Anyone who had hoped for an easing of the tension in the Sino-American trade conflict after the election of Joe Biden has now found themselves wrong. Rather, the new US president is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Donald Trump on this issue. Biden’s trade representative Katherine Tai is aiming for virtual consultations with the Chinese Vice Prime Minister Liu He in the near future. However, there are initially no signs of an easing in trade relations between the two superpowers.
Tai wants to openly address that China is not sticking to promises from a first partial agreement that the leadership concluded with the Trump administration in Beijing at the end of 2019, US government officials told the Reuters news agency. The US special tariffs should therefore remain in place. There are also no negotiations planned for a planned phase two agreement for the time being.
In the partial agreement, Beijing had promised to buy $ 200 billion more goods in the US by the end of 2021 – primarily oil and gas (50 billion), industrial goods (80 billion) and agricultural products (32 billion). Because China has not kept these commitments so far, there is currently no reason for the USA to abandon the sanctions. In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington tonight, the trade representative was due to outline the US’s new strategy in the conflict with China, which has been simmering for years.
“Serious Concerns”
A leading government official in the White House had already yesterday affirmed that the special tariffs imposed by Trump will remain in force for the time being. When asked whether additional tariffs could be introduced in the future, the representative said: “All of the tools available to us are on the table.”
Overall, China’s “state-centered and non-market-conforming trade practices” continued to cause “serious worries,” said Tai’s pre-published speech. Washington will use the full range of existing instruments and develop new ones to defend US economic interests against “harmful tactics and practices.” The focus is on working with friendly economic powers to create fair and open markets.
For too long, China’s failure to adhere to global trade practices has undermined the prosperity of Americans and other people around the world, Tai said. The trade commissioner therefore does not want to rule out new special tariffs against China in order to increase the pressure, but she also wants to talk about a new edition of specific exemption regulations for Chinese exports to the USA.
Reduce dependence on China
During the election campaign, Biden had criticized the special tariffs on Chinese imports as “harmful to US consumers, farmers and manufacturers” and promised that they would be lifted if he were elected. But the new US administration has found that China’s unfair trade practices are damaging and weakening the American economy, the White House now says.
The trade conflict between the two largest economies began in mid-June 2018 with special tariffs on imports from China amounting to 50 billion dollars. Trump wanted to reduce the trade deficit with China and accused Beijing of unfair trade methods. The conflict escalated until a year later Trump imposed tariffs on almost all imports from China – more than Beijing could answer with counter-tariffs.
Biden is now increasingly relying on dialogue again, but at the same time he is working on reducing the US economy’s dependence on Chinese imports. Particularly in the case of batteries for electric cars, medicines, chips, cell phones and military equipment, the USA wants to produce more goods itself and in its own country again. In addition, the government under Biden looks at not only trade and tariffs, but all aspects of economic relations with China. This includes making targeted investments to make US companies more competitive or supply chains more independent of China.