US Trade Chief To Give Major Speech Monday Belatedly Unveiling Biden’s China Trade Strategy

While President Biden has kept Trump’s tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports in place he’s simultaneously remained generally quiet on anything touching long-term policy, particularly as regards China’s non-market trade and subsidy practices.

But that’s expected to change, with all eyes on a major speech set for 10 a.m. EDT on Monday by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who will finally unveil the Biden admin’s strategy for tackling the complicated deadlocked US-China trade relationship.

She’ll present the strategy in remarks to a Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic Studies, with a question-and-answer session scheduled to follow. It comes after her office has been engaged in what she’s dubbed a “top-to-bottom review” of US trade policy with China.

Tai has recently admitted “very large challenges” in the China trade relationship for which she’s sought from Congress authorization of new trade law tools to help the US check and ultimately counter Chinese state subsidies for high-technology sectors.

Here’s a preview of Tai’s much anticipated talk on Monday via Reuters:

Tai’s remarks at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Monday will mark the start of the final three months of the “Phase 1” U.S.-China trade deal struck that Trump struck with Beijing at the start of 2019, easing a tariff war between the world’s two largest economies. It called for China to boost purchases of U.S. farm and manufactured goods, energy and services by $200 billion over the two years to the end of 2021 compared to 2017 levels.

Biden administration officials say China has not met its Phase 1 trade deal commitments and they intend to hold it to its international trade commitments.

In an interview published Thursday in Politico she indicated that Biden intends to “build on” existing tariffs to “confront” Beijing.

A senior administration official tells me that the Biden administration plans to unveil part one of its long-awaited China trade policy next week. @CSIS just announced that @USTR Amb Tai speaks there on Monday. https://t.co/qnfIpvvmlV

— Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) September 30, 2021

Amid continuing widespread speculation on the direction the admin will go, here’s a comment from Rabobank…

The rumor is that 1/3 of the US tariffs on Chinese goods will be removed. 

That might bring the price of some goods down marginally, but will do nothing to increase supply given China cannot get the goods to market, and energy and shipping prices are going to make them more expensive anyway.