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WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Katherine Tai as America’s top trade envoy, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Tai, who is the top business adviser to the House Ways and Means Committee, will be appointed as the United States trade representative, according to the two people, who spoke on Wednesday (Dec. 9) on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so. speak publicly about it.
The role is a Cabinet position, and the Senate will vote whether to confirm Tai’s nomination. Biden’s selection of Tai, who is Asian-American, reflects his promise to choose a diverse cabinet that reflects the makeup of the country.
Tai fluent in Mandarin Chinese previously oversaw the China Trade application for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, setting the United States’ strategy in trade disputes with China.
Biden’s trade representative will inherit a trade war with China, put on hold by an interim trade pact in January that left many of the toughest problems unresolved and US taxes remain on $ 360 billion in Chinese imports.
As a top trade staff member for Ways and Means, Tai handled negotiations last year with the Trump administration on a renewed trade deal in North America.
Under pressure from Congressional Democrats, Trump’s trade team agreed to strengthen the pact to make it easier for Mexican workers to form independent unions and demand better wages and benefits, lessening the incentives for American businesses to move south of the border to take advantage of the economic and economic advantages. compliant work.
The administration also abandoned the new US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (T-MEC), which Democrats saw as a giveaway to drug companies that may have kept drug prices high.
READ: Comment: Why Biden Will Find It Difficult to Undo Trump’s ‘America First’ Trade Policy
READ: China’s Wang vows to keep trade deal during Biden administration: US business group
Tai is considered a pragmatist of problem solving in trade policy, which often turns into an ideological divide between free traders and protectionists.
In a letter to Biden on Nov. 24, California Democratic Representative Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional Asia Pacific American Caucus, and nine other female House members praised Tai’s “diplomatic experience and skills” and said that it is “exceptionally qualified” to deal with Canada and Mexico in the T-MEC and with trade tensions between the United States and China.
“Katherine would be the first Asian American and the first woman of color to play this role, breaking down barriers and clearing the way for others to follow,” Chu added in a statement Wednesday.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a senior member of the finance committee, called Tai “an inspired choice” for the job.
“Ms. Tai has the experience she needs to be successful as a USTR, and her record of victories for American workers shows that she knows how to uphold the values that matter to American families,” Wyden said. “He worked closely with me and my staff to create the strongest protections for American workers in a trade agreement and make them law with the support of both parties.”
He urged Senate Republicans to confirm it quickly.
