US favorable to working with its allies on China’s trade practices

The government of President Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday that it is difficult to put an end to Chinese trade practices that it considers unfair and said it is in favor of acting in concert with its allies to counter them.

“To successfully counter the range of threats posed by China, we must be candid about the challenges we face.”, underlines the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in its roadmap for 2022.

It acknowledges that punitive tariffs, a type of sanction used massively under former President Donald Trump, penalize American businesses and workers.

The Biden administration reiterates that it has adopted “a new approach, comprehensive and pragmatic”.

“China is obstinate with its trade abuses”, underlines the USTR in this report of more than 300 pages. “We are also aware that thoughtless intervention measures can create vulnerabilities”.

Since it cannot influence Chinese policy in the short term, Washington chooses to act in the long term.

“The ability to defend against China’s unfair practices requires market economies to act in concert to confront policies and practices that are fundamentally contradictory to a global trading system based on market competition.”, point out the authors of the report.

Given the negative impact on US companies of the tariffs levied in retaliation for practices deemed unfair by Washington, the USTR recalls restarting “a process of specific tariff exclusions” to guarantee American economic interests.

This consists of suspending punitive customs duties on certain products or components from China that are essential for US companies, which have not found other suppliers.

“We maintain the option of other tariff exclusion processes”, also reported the USTR, which is willing to use “all tools” at its fingertips and seek others to end the Chinese trade practices it seeks to combat.