By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will tell lawmakers Tuesday that the Biden administration is “seriously looking” at U.S. trade defense tools to counter threats posed by China’s trade and economic policies, including a review of Trump-era tariffs on Chinese import.
In excerpts of testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee released Tuesday ahead of a hearing, Tai said China’s policies “created dependencies and vulnerabilities across multiple sectors, harmed American workers and businesses and created real risks for created our supply chains. “This is why we are taking a serious look at how our existing tools address this issue, including through our four-year review of China’s Section 301 tariffs,” Tai said.
Tai’s testimony on the Biden administration’s 2024 trade agenda comes just a week after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Chinese leaders that their overinvestment in manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles, solar panels and other clean energy goods threatened an unacceptable surge in exports. would harm producers and workers in the United States and elsewhere.
Yellen will begin a new dialogue with Chinese officials on Tuesday on “balanced growth” at the Treasury Department, but Chinese trade experts say her message to Beijing on overcapacity could be a first step toward a new “Section 301” investigation into unfair trade practices. impose new tariffs on EVs, solar panels and other imports.
Former President Donald Trump used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports in 2018. The Biden administration is now nearing the completion of a lengthy investigation into whether these duties should be extended.
Tai will also tell lawmakers that she is closely monitoring a petition from five U.S. labor unions to open a new Section 301 investigation into China’s alleged unfair acts, policies and practices in the maritime logistics and shipbuilding sectors.
“Our economic relationship with the People’s Republic of China is complex, and as the president said, we want competition with China, not conflict,” Tai said in her excerpts.
A key goal of the Biden administration’s work on supply chains is aimed at reducing dependence on China and diversifying sources of supply to avoid bottlenecks like those that occurred at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic Tai said.
“Reducing dependencies and vulnerabilities and strengthening supply chains is a key priority for USTR this year, which is the foundation for our work as part of the President’s Council on Supply Chain Resilience,” Tai said.
The U.S. trade chief has put workers at the center of U.S. trade policy in an effort to build higher labor standards in trade negotiations with other countries. She said this includes prioritizing strong labor commitments in negotiations with Kenya and Taiwan.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Michael Perry)
