The U.S. is reviewing its commerce coverage with China, says USTR Katherine Tai

BEIJING — Seven months since U.S. President Joe Biden took workplace, his administration has but to ascertain a commerce coverage with China.

U.S. Commerce Consultant Katherine Tai mentioned Tuesday the “Biden-Harris Administration and USTR are conducting a complete evaluation of U.S.-China commerce coverage,” in response to a readout of a digital assembly with two enterprise associations, the U.S. Chamber China Heart Advisory Board and the U.S.-China Enterprise Council.

She acknowledged the importance of the U.S.-China commerce relationship, and mentioned the U.S. stays dedicated to “addressing China’s unfair commerce insurance policies and non-market practices that undermine American companies and employees,” the readout mentioned.

Michael Hirson, apply head for China and Northeast Asia at consulting agency Eurasia Group, has identified that Biden was in a position to persuade main G-7 international locations to make sturdy statements towards China.

Nonetheless, Biden has “not but articulated a commerce technique or one other strategy that might actually be efficient in countering China’s financial energy,” Hirson mentioned.

Commerce tensions between the world’s two largest economies escalated beneath former President Donald Trump. A dispute that started with tariffs on billions of {dollars}’ value of products from each side has since spilled over into expertise and finance.

American corporations and different overseas companies have had longstanding complaints about unequal entry to the Chinese language market, lack of mental property safety and compelled expertise switch.

China’s Ministry of Commerce mentioned final week the 2 international locations remained in “regular communication” relating to commerce, in response to a CNBC translation.

Commerce between the U.S. and China has grown regardless of the political tensions.

China’s exports to the U.S. for the primary seven months of the yr rose 36.9% in comparison with the identical interval in 2020, whereas imports climbed 50.4% year-on-year within the January to July interval, in response to customs knowledge accessed by Wind Info.

China’s commerce surplus with the U.S. rose additional in July to $35.42 billion, regardless of Trump’s efforts to cut back that surplus.