Biden trade rep says US, allies working to counter unfair Chinese competition

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the United States and its allies are working to counter unfair Chinese competition, addressing issues that they previously have not with respect to their relationship with China. 

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Tai told reporters that the U.S. and its partners are focusing on China’s rise on the world stage and its control of many areas of the international economy. She said the plan is designed to ensure that the U.S. is not alone in taking on China economically. 

“That phenomenon of ‘China Inc.’ and the convergence between the state and the economy is something that we continue, and our systems continue, to grapple with,” Tai said. 

Some examples of the efforts that the U.S. and its allies are engaged in include the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum — which the U.S. is negotiating with the European Union to address China’s state subsidies that U.S. officials have said cause overproduction of metals and lower prices for U.S. manufacturers, Bloomberg reported. 

The U.S. is also working to develop the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, which President Biden announced last year would set trade rules in the region with 13 Asian countries. 

Tai gave the reporters a preview of a speech that she will deliver at American University in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. She is expected to discuss how the Biden administration is trying to make trade benefit a greater diversity of people, including female businesspeople and minority-owned businesses, based on an excerpt of the speech that Bloomberg reviewed. 

Tai will also discuss how the White House is negotiating the removal of non-tariff barriers to U.S. exports. 

She said finding a balance in the U.S.-China relationship includes measures like tariffs that the Trump administration placed on China over intellectual property theft and domestic investments like the Chips and Science Act that increased investment in semiconductor manufacturing. 

“For a long time, we just figured the market would take care of everything, and if it’s not on a level playing field, we’ve seen a lot of erosion,” Tai said. “We’ve got to take new, more active, bolder measures to invest in ourselves.” 

The trade representative’s remarks come as members of both parties in Congress have called greater attention to the U.S. responding to competition from China. The House even created a special committee to counter Chinese competition in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in January.