US tariff review based on analysis – not on China trade ‘breakthrough’, senior USTR official says

Name: An unwinnable conflict? The US-China trade war, 5 years on
Uploaded: 2023-05-28T07:12:05.000Z
Duration: 14 min 45 s
Description: An unwinnable conflict? The US-China trade war, 5 years on

Deputy US trade representative Sarah Bianchi says inflation-related arguments against duties have eased

Review of tariffs on hundreds of import categories from China expected to be completed by the end of the year

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The US duties range from 7.5 per cent on many consumer goods to 25 per cent on vehicles, industrial components, semiconductors and other electronics. Photo: AFP

Reuters

Published: 3:12pm, 28 May 2023

The United States is taking an analytical approach to its review of whether to keep tariffs on Chinese goods and will not base outcomes on any “breakthrough” in US-China trade relations, according to deputy US trade representative Sarah Bianchi.

In an interview on Saturday as a ministerial meeting of the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks wrapped up, Bianchi said the Biden administration was not assuming any such breakthrough would happen, but would continue dialogue with China at various levels.

“We are conducting the review from an analytical perspective. We’re not base-casing any breakthrough in the trade relationship” with China as part of the review, Bianchi said. “We’re not assuming that that will happen.”

Instead, the USTR was continuing to study industry and stakeholder comments on the duties and consulting with the US Commerce Department, the Treasury and other agencies to determine which categories made strategic sense, she said.

“We’re taking a look at what’s economically sound,” added Bianchi, who oversees the USTR’s engagement in Asia.

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An unwinnable conflict? The US-China trade war, 5 years on

Former US president Donald Trump imposed the tariffs in 2018 and 2019 on thousands of imports from China valued at some US$370 billion at the time, after a “Section 301” investigation found that China was misappropriating US intellectual property and coercing US companies to transfer sensitive technology to do business.