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US-China trade deal: Biden’s team seem unlikely to relent on Beijing’s commitments
- New US Trade Representative Katherine Tai says China must deliver on the purchase commitments it made in the phase one agreement signed in January last year
- China agreed to buy an additional US$200 billion worth of American goods and services but sour relations and Covid-19 led to targets being missed
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Soon after Joe Biden was elected US president, Beijing began talking up the possibility of renegotiating the so-called phase one trade deal it agreed with Washington last year, but observers say that might be easier said than done.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in December that while China had the capacity and demand to buy more US products, that applied only to items it actually needed or wanted. Redressing the two countries’ long-standing trade balance would be “a matter of time” he said.
Wang also suggested restarting negotiations of an investment deal between the two countries, which began during the Barack Obama administration.
But with Biden looking like he will stick to the tough stance on China adopted by his predecessor Donald Trump, Beijing is unlikely to have things all its own way. At her confirmation hearing on Thursday, US Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai said China had to deliver on the purchase commitments it made in the phase one agreement.
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Shi Yinhong, a government adviser and professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said Tai’s comments were the “toughest message” yet on Biden’s trade policy for China.
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