Outgoing U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer is urging the Biden administration to keep tariffs on China as they get results, according to comments he made in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “We changed the way people think about China,” Lighthizer told the WSJ. “We want a China policy that thinks about the geopolitical competition between the United States and an adversary — an economic adversary.”
Lighthizer said the Biden plan to bring other countries into the battle with China was a concern, saying it could let other nations slow or veto U.S. actions and tie up the U.S. in endless, pointless discussions with China. The U.S. and China “started dialogues in the '90s,” he noted. “That did nothing. All of them were just a waste of time.”
He still wants the Biden administration to keep tariffs on all $370 billion in Chinese goods — three-quarters of everything China sells to the U.S. The 25% tariffs he slapped on Chinese car imports stopped China from potentially selling millions of vehicles in the U.S., he said.
Commenting on his replacement to head USTR, Katherine Tai, Lighthizer said she helped garner Democratic support for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). “She learned good skills on the Hill,” Lighthizer said. Those include “how to manage different people who have different objectives and still get things done.” His stance of keeping a push on China is not surprising and has echoed comments since the election.