The incoming Biden administration should hold to the Phase One agreement between the U.S. and China and continue to use tariffs as leverage on China, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Reuters in an interview.
China has done a “reasonably good job” in implementing the pact, he noted. “I would hold their feet to the fire on Phase One,” Lighthizer said when asked what the Biden administration should do relative to the Phase One deal. "I think in some parts they (China) have done a reasonably good job, in other parts they haven't.”
China's purchase commitments are one area, he noted, indicating China is well behind on those commitments which in part is due to the pandemic. “I would use the dispute settlement process to resolve specific issues,” Lighthizer said. “I would keep the tariffs in place for sure. I think if you see the tariffs dissipating that's a signal that we're not serious about understanding that China is a strategic adversary.”
He expressed a view that the Trump administration's actions on China have "changed the way people think about China in the economic sphere.” On other trade matters, Lighthizer said the U.S. contention that the WTO has failed relative to reining in China and that has spawned global agreement that the world trade body needs reform. Signals so far from the incoming administration are that they do not plan on changing the current U.S. trade stance on China and Biden has ordered a review of the Phase One trade deal.
Lighthizer offered no comments on his potential successor — House Ways and Means counsel Katherine Tai. The Biden trade agenda revealed thus far indicates their initial actions are not going to veer greatly from the Trump administration, but expectations are there will be changes ahead.