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WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden should continue to pressure China to adhere to the “Phase 1” trade deal, in which Beijing has done a “reasonably good job” in implementing parts, using tariffs as leverage, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Reuters.
Speaking late Tuesday in a rare interview, Lighthizer defended the Trump administration’s record of destroying the status quo in trade and imposing unilateral tariffs on $ 370 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Beijing signed the Phase 1 trade deal nearly a year ago after months of tariffs, vowing to boost purchases of US agricultural and manufactured goods, energy and services by $ 200 billion above 2017 levels for two years.
The tariffs have cost US importers $ 71.6 billion since they began in July 2018, according to data from US Customs.
They forced companies to break supply chains, rocked financial markets, and slowed economic growth long before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
When asked what Biden, declared the winner of the November 3 presidential election by the Electoral College on Monday, should do with the Phase 1 deal, Lighthizer said: “I would stand firm in Phase 1.”
“I think in some parts (China) they have done a reasonably good job, in others they have not,” Lighthizer said.
He said Beijing is far behind in its purchasing commitments, partly due to the pandemic. In October, Beijing’s purchases of US goods and services were about half the level required by the Phase 1 deal, on a prorated annual basis, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
“I would use the dispute resolution process to resolve specific problems,” Lighthizer said. “He would keep the tariffs for sure. I think if you see the tariffs dissipating, it is a sign that we are not taking seriously the understanding that China is a strategic adversary.”
Biden said in August that he thought the Phase 1 deal was “failing.”
But in December, he told a New York Times columnist that he did not plan “any immediate moves” to change the deal or tariffs on Chinese goods.
