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WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will not act immediately to scrap the phase 1 trade deal, which President Donald Trump signed with China, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
In an interview with a Times columnist, Biden said the United States needed to regain leverage to use it in negotiations with China.
“I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to rates,” Biden said.
“I’m not going to hurt my options.”
“In my opinion, we don’t have (leverage) yet,” he added.
The United States needs to develop a bipartisan consensus and increase government-led investments in research and development, infrastructure and education to better compete with China, according to the president-elect.
“I want to make sure that we are going to fight like hell by investing in America first,” Biden said.
Under the Phase 1 agreement signed earlier in the year, China agreed to increase purchases of US products and services by at least US $ 200 billion during 2020 and 2021.
The agreement also sets 25% tariffs on a range of $ 250 billion of Chinese industrial products and components used by American manufacturers, and retaliatory Chinese tariffs on more than $ 100 billion of American products.
Biden’s team will enforce policies targeting China’s “abusive practices,” including “theft of intellectual property, product dumping, illegal subsidies to corporations,” and forcing “technology transfers” from US companies to their Chinese counterparts, according to the interview. .
On Iran, Biden said he was adamant in his views 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 Iran would fully implement its 2015 nuclear deal if Biden lifts the sanctions, which Zarif said could be done quickly through “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.
