[ad_1]
NEW YORK: Joe Biden will not immediately cancel the phase 1 trade agreement that President Donald Trump signed with China or take action to remove tariffs on Chinese exports, the New York Times quoted the president as saying on Wednesday (December 2). elected from the United States.
In an interview with Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who hinted at how the new administration will proceed on foreign policy, Biden said his top priority was getting a generous stimulus package in Congress, even before he takes office.
This week, Reuters reported that Trump was considering further steps to wedge Biden into hard-line positions on Beijing, backed by anti-China sentiment in Congress that has often unsettled financial markets in the past four years.
“I am not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to tariffs. I am not going to hurt my options,” President-elect Biden told Friedman.
READ: Comment: After years of demonizing China, the US must start an honest dialogue
Biden said he would pursue policies targeting “abusive practices” by China, such as “theft of intellectual property, product dumping, illegal subsidies to corporations” and forcing “technology transfers” from US companies to Chinese counterparts.
But he also emphasized the need to develop a bipartisan consensus at home and focus the government’s efforts on investments in research and development, infrastructure and education that allow companies to better compete with their Chinese rivals.
“I want to make sure that we are going to fight like hell by investing in America first,” Biden said.
“China’s best strategy, I think, is one that puts all of our, or at least those who used to be, allies on the same page.”
Under the Phase 1 agreement signed this year, China agreed to increase purchases of US products and services by at least US $ 200 billion during 2020 and 2021.
READ: Xi Jinping of China congratulates US President-elect Joe Biden and hopes to have ‘win-win’ ties
READ: Comment: It is China’s commitment, not containment, that Joe Biden will focus on
The agreement also put into effect 25 percent tariffs on a $ 250 billion range of Chinese industrial products and components used by US manufacturers, and China’s retaliatory levies on more than $ 100 billion of American products.
On Iran, Biden maintained his view that his administration would lift sanctions if Tehran returned to “strictly comply with the nuclear deal.”
Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country would fully implement its 2015 nuclear deal if Biden lifted sanctions, adding that that could be done quickly with “three executive orders.”
“In consultation with our allies and partners, we will engage in follow-up negotiations and agreements to tighten and lengthen Iran’s nuclear limitations as well as address the missile program,” added Biden.
