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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump does not plan to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods before his successor, Joe Biden, takes office next month, the House’s economic adviser said on Monday (December 7). Blanca, Larry Kudlow.
“In the trade talks, we remain engaged,” Kudlow said at an event hosted by The Washington Post. “We are not planning new rates.”
Trump launched an aggressive trade war against Beijing that involved tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods, many of which remain in effect despite a “phase one” deal signed earlier this year.
Kudlow said China is complying with the initial agreement that included specific targets for the purchase of agricultural products such as soybeans.
“The data shows this, that China is complying with a good part of the phase one trade agreement,” he said, adding, “They may be overdue due to the pandemic situation.”
Furthermore, “there appears to be some positive movement regarding the creation of new laws and new legal bodies, judicial bodies, to stop the extraordinary theft of our intellectual property that was, as you know, a key part of our concerns.”
Biden said last week that he would not act immediately to remove any of the tariffs that Trump imposed during his four years in office, and said he would focus first on investing in American workers and manufacturing.
Once he takes office on January 20, Biden is expected to mend diplomatic relations with business partners and allies like the European Union, which could be a solid ally in pressuring Beijing to change its behavior.
