Business groups ask Biden to resume trade talks with China

WASHINGTON – Nearly three dozen of the country’s most influential business groups – representing retailers, chipmakers, farmers and others – call on the Biden administration to resume negotiations with China and cut tariffs tariffs on imports, claiming they are a drag on the US economy.

Tariffs on Chinese electronics, clothing and other goods, which are paid by US importers, have been maintained in part to ensure that China meets its obligations under its 2020 Phase 1 trade pact with the United States. United.

In a letter to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday, business groups say Beijing has met “important criteria and commitments” in the deal, including opening up markets to US financial institutions and reducing certain regulatory barriers to US agricultural exports. in China.

“A worker-centered trade agenda should take into account the costs that US and Chinese tariffs impose on Americans here and at home and remove tariffs that harm US interests,” the letter said, referring to administration policy. aimed at making workers’ interests a priority.

Spokesmen for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for comment.