Tackling Uygur forced labour in China a priority on Joe Biden’s trade agenda
- Administration will use ‘all available tools’ to combat Beijing’s ‘unfair’ trade practices, according to report by the Office of the US Trade Representative
- Biden’s USTR pick Katherine Tai says she ‘will not hesitate to act’ if talks with China prove ineffective
The administration of US President Joe Biden will use “all available tools” to combat China’s unfair trade practices and will prioritise addressing Beijing’s forced labour programme targeting Uygurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, the Office of the US Trade Representative said on Monday.
The administration “recognises that China’s coercive and unfair trade practices harm American workers, threaten our technological edge, weaken our supply chain resiliency, and undermine our national interests,” the USTR said in its report outlining the president’s trade policy agenda for this year.
The document largely formalises statements made in recent weeks by Biden and his USTR nominee Katherine Tai, who is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Tai said on Monday she would work to fight a range of “unfair” Chinese trade and economic practices and would seek to treat Chinese censorship as a trade barrier.
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While noting that a review of US trade policy toward China is under way, the report said the one-month-old administration is “committed to using all available tools to take on the range of China’s unfair trade practices” including intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer and industrial subsidies.
The report also called it “a top priority” to address the widespread human rights abuses of the Chinese government’s forced labour programme against the ethnic and religious minority groups in the far-western Xinjiang autonomous region and elsewhere in the country.
“Americans and consumers around the world do not want products made with forced labour on store shelves, and workers should not be disadvantaged by competing with a state sponsored regime of systematic repression,” the USTR said.
The Biden administration will also work with allies and partners “to pressure the Chinese government to end its unfair trade practices and to hold China accountable”, including for the human rights abuses perpetrated by its forced labour programme, it said.
The previous administration under President Donald Trump was often criticised for its go-it-alone approach, seen as alienating allies and undermining an effective global response to China.
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“Addressing the China challenge will require a comprehensive strategy and more systematic approach than the piecemeal approach of the recent past,” the USTR said.
The Biden administration will re-engage with international institutions such as the World Trade Organization and will also work with allies and like-minded trading partners to establish “high-standard global rules to govern the digital economy, in line with our shared democratic values”, according to the report.
The report on Monday came as USTR nominee Tai gave written answers to senators’ questions following her confirmation hearing last week. Tai said she would seek to use the enforcement consultation process in Trump’s phase one trade deal with China to ensure the protection of American intellectual property.
“I am open to exploring a wide range of options to address our long-standing problems with China’s unfair trade practices, including bilateral talks,” Tai wrote. “However, I will not hesitate to act if those talks prove ineffective,” she added, without naming specific consequences.
She said she would work to address market access restrictions that prevent US companies from competing in the Chinese market, including for cloud computing.
She told Republican Senator John Cornyn that Chinese government censorship policies also disadvantage US businesses, and that if confirmed, she would work with him “to develop trade policies that treat censorship as a trade barrier”.
Asked how she would handle “Section 301” tariffs on Chinese goods and tariff exclusions that are now expiring, Tai said she would work to “ensure that those tariffs are appropriately responsive to China’s practices and take into account the impact on US businesses, workers and consumers”.
In a nod to the US energy sector, Tai also said she would work with the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture to promote market access for American energy exports, including liquefied natural gas and ethanol.
Kyodo and Reuters
