USTR Katherine Tai Pledges to Enforce Phase 1 Agreement

Washington must implement the Phase 1 trade deal between the United States and China and will raise broader political concerns with Beijing, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Monday, according to her press office.

“Today, I will outline the starting point of our administration’s strategic vision to realign our trade policies towards China in order to defend the interests of American workers, businesses, farmers and producers, and to strengthen our class. average, “according to remarks prepared for delivery to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“China has made commitments intended to benefit certain American industries, including agriculture, which we must enforce,” he should say.

CNBC reported last week that the senior trade adviser would announce that Beijing did not comply with the Phase 1 deal reached under the administration of former President Donald Trump.

Tai is scheduled to deliver a speech on Monday, outlining the Biden administration’s business strategy in China. She will be speaking at the Washington think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, at 10 a.m.ET.

According to the prepared remarks, Tai will say that the United States has “serious concerns” about China’s “state-centered, non-market practices” that were not addressed in the phase one agreement.

“As we work to implement the terms of the first phase, we will raise these broader political concerns with Beijing,” she said.

In the trade deal, signed in January 2020, Beijing pledged to buy at least $ 200 billion more in US goods and services in 2020 and 2021, compared to 2017. The deal halted a trade fight between the United States and China which lasted about two years. .

As of August, however, China had only reached 62% of that target, based on U.S. export data compiled by the Peterson Institute for International Economics think tank.

A senior administration official told reporters that US President Joe Biden believes the phase one agreement “did not significantly address our fundamental concerns about China’s business practices.”

“Unlike his predecessor, President Biden will hold China to account when China fails to honor its commitments,” the official said in a substantive appeal.

The US Trade Representative will say on Monday, “We will use the full range of tools we have and develop new tools as needed to defend US economic interests against harmful policies and practices. “

It is also expected to announce a targeted tariff exclusion process for companies to avoid punitive levies, and have “frank conversations” with its Chinese counterparts in the coming days.

U.S. officials said during the call for information that the phase one agreement will be reviewed and that Washington will not seek to negotiate a phase two agreement.

“We recognize that China simply cannot change and that we need to have a strategy that treats China as it is, rather than as we would like it to be,” an official said.