US-China relations: Joe Biden’s embrace of post-pandemic ‘industrial polices’ shows ‘bust of Washington Consensus’

Biden administration’s willingness to harness power of federal government to compete with China is a tick for Beijing’s economic governance, new report says

China should remain on alert for spillovers of US stimulus policies and particularly its China containment strategy, which is a key pillar of ‘Biden Economics’

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US President Joe Biden has introduced a number of federal government economic strategies to contain China since taking office. Photo: AP

Published: 2:00am, 9 Jul 2021Updated: 8:29am, 9 Jul 2021

The Biden administration’s US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package and other interventionist fiscal measures are a pivot towards China’s economic model and signal a bust of Washington’s long-advocated neoliberal ideology, according to a new report by Renmin University of China.

By signing off on the Covid-19 relief package and other initiatives, such as the now-reduced and split US$1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, US President Joe Biden has given de facto endorsement to China’s state-led growth model, the report said.

“The US embrace of government interventionism and industrial policies has officially announced the bust of the Washington Consensus,” said the report, which was released at the university‘s Sino-US Political and Economic Forum on Thursday.

“It will let the world think positively about China’s economic achievements and its economic governance.”

Biden economics can hardly reverse the rising debt, fiscal monetisation and deindustrialisation

Liu Yuanchun

The report said China should remain on alert for spillovers of US stimulus policies and particularly its China containment strategy, which is a key pillar of “Biden economics”.