US trade chief Katherine Tai says getting ‘traction’ with China in phase one deal talks
- The coming virtual summit between Biden and Xi will be helpful, but officials on both sides are working and ‘don’t need the Dads to come in’, she says
- The US aims to hold Beijing accountable to the Trump-era agreement, Tai says, and is exploring all weaknesses in China’s performance
The Biden administration is getting traction with China in talks over Beijing’s compliance with a Trump-era trade deal, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Wednesday, but she declined to predict an outcome while discussions continue.
She told reporters in Washington the administration aims to hold China accountable to the two-year phase one trade deal signed in January 2020 and is exploring all weaknesses in China’s performance, including its lack of purchases of commercial aircraft.
China is running far behind in its promises in the deal to boost purchases of US goods by US$200 billion during 2020 and 2021, compared to 2017 levels, reaching only 60 per cent of the target through September 30, according to data compiled by trade economist Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Asked if she was pushing in the talks for China to take steps to allow for purchases of Boeing commercial aircraft – a purchase category identified in the phase one agreement – Tai said: “If you’re looking at where the weaknesses might be, in terms of phase one, you should expect that we are talking through it and exploring all of it.”
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Tai said the meeting would be helpful and their understanding of each other would benefit a complex relationship.
But she said the leaders’ engagement was not necessary to facilitate the trade discussions.
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“I don’t want any of you in this room thinking that we are not getting traction with our Chinese counterparts,” Tai said.
“We’re talking and we’re working. So we don’t need, you know, Dads to come in,” she added, referring to Biden and Xi.
Asked if the administration was considering easing tariffs on Chinese goods as a way to reduce inflationary pressures on the US economy, Tai said USTR was viewing the “Section 301” tariffs on Chinese goods as part of a strategy to seek an advantageous position to more effectively compete with China.
