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US-China relations
China

US tariffs review of over US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports almost done, says top trade envoy

  • Biden administration ‘taking a serious look’ at existing tools to deal effectively with Beijing’s policies causing ‘dependencies and vulnerabilities’
  • US lawmakers also raise questions about withdrawal of Trump-era demands on digital trade rules, fearing reversal means victory for China

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US Trade Representative Katherine Tai has described the 2½ years of tariffs review as ‘tremendously consequential’. Photo: AFP
Khushboo Razdanin Washington

Washington’s top trade envoy assured sceptical Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that the long-awaited results of the Biden administration’s review of US tariffs on more than US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports were “very close to the conclusion”.

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Testifying before the House Ways and Means committee, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai described the 2½ years of review as “tremendously consequential”, a “whole-of-government” exercise looking at the use of tariff tools to address “inequities in the US-China trade relationship”.

“We are making progress and it is my belief that we are very close to the conclusion of this review,” Tai said when asked by Republican congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, the committee’s chairman, if she could commit to releasing the results by May 3.

Smith suggested that the elapsed time raised serious concerns about whether President Joe Biden recognised the urgency of the threat China posed to American workers and businesses.
US Treasury chief Janet Yellen in China aiming to further stabilise bilateral trade ties

Tai said the Biden administration was “taking a serious look” at the “existing tools” to deal effectively with China’s policies causing “dependencies and vulnerabilities in multiple sectors, harming American workers and businesses and creating real risks for our supply chains”.

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