Does Joe Biden’s pick as the next US trade chief need to be a China hand?
- Some veteran diplomats urge Joe Biden to replace US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer with someone well versed in China policy, calling relationship ‘the big enchilada’
- But others downplay the importance of direct experience, pointing to the agency’s expertise and wider awareness in Washington of the China challenge
In his three years as US ambassador to China under then-president Barack Obama, Max Baucus says he was often surprised by the lack of understanding about China among senior government colleagues in Washington.
“It was very clear to me that some of the people – the top cabinet secretaries, for example – did not have sufficient Chinese experience and did not sufficiently understand China,” said Baucus, who advised Joe Biden on China policy during his successful presidential election campaign.
Before US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer’s first trip to China, for instance, he called Baucus to pick his brain on “what he thought about China, and what sorts of tactics Beijing might apply” in negotiations. “I may be wrong here, but I don’t know that he had been to China prior to this. He certainly had not spent a lot of time in China,” Baucus said.
Now, Baucus believes that whomever replaces Lighthizer – the most well-known USTR in recent memory – should be better versed in the critically important bilateral relationship. “China is the big enchilada,” the former Montana senator said.
This is one school of thought in a lively debate on replacing Lighthizer, a renowned trade lawyer who built a career on protecting America’s steel industry from foreign competition, before becoming Donald Trump’s hawkish adviser on China.
In interviews with more than a dozen ex-US trade officials and diplomats, some said they want a China hand, fully versed in Beijing’s evolving model of state capitalism.