Category: katherine tai

US Trade Chief Tai Says World Can’t Return to 2019 Trading System

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Thursday that global trade policymakers should not try to recreate the pre-pandemic trading system but build one that is more resilient, sustainable, and supportive of higher living standards. Speaking in a virtual panel of the World Economic Forum, Tai cautioned against a backward-looking “return to normalcy” after two…


US Trade Chief Says Will Engage on UK Steel Talks When ‘Time Is Right’

WASHINGTON—U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai signaled on Wednesday that the United States is not rushing to complete a deal to ease tariffs on British steel and aluminum, saying that she will pursue these talks “when the time is right.” Tai, speaking to an online event hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs, an…


US Trade Representative Tai Hints at New Asian Economic Framework: NHK

TOKYO—U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the United States may set up a new Asian economic framework with allies and “friendly” nations as early as next year, NHK public television reported on Thursday. The United States and Japan announced on Wednesday a new trade partnership to boost cooperation on labour, environment, and digital trade issues,…


US Trade Chief Urges New Laws Targeting China’s Overseas Steel Investment

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai affirmed the need for updating U.S. trade laws to reinforce existing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, coping with China’s steel-making overcapacity and export through subsidized investment in southeast Asia. “The tools that we have, we know how they can be effective and we know where the limitations are,” Tai told U.S….


US Trade Chief Tai Says She Wants to Dial Down Temperature in US-China Relations

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said her focus in engaging with China will be reducing tensions in the fraught trading relationship between the world’s two largest economic powers. Bilateral ties have come to a point where “it feels kind of like a pile of dry tinder,” Tai said at an Oct. 28 meeting at the…


US Committed to WTO and Wants It to Succeed, Trade Representative Tai Says

GENEVA—Top U.S. trade negotiator Katherine Tai on Thursday affirmed the Biden administration’s commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying consensus was possible on several trade and health proposals at a major meeting next month. The 25-year-old global trade body is facing questions about its relevance and director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is under pressure to deliver…


China Presses US to Cancel Tariffs in Virtual Meeting

China’s top trade negotiator Liu He pushed his U.S. counterpart Katherine Tai to cancel trade tariffs in a virtual meeting on Oct. 9 as the world’s biggest economies kick off negotiations following a lengthy break. During the virtual talk, the Chinese side “negotiated over the cancellation of tariffs and sanctions, and clarified position on China’s…


No Major Change of US-China Trade Policy

Commentary U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai largely embraced the Trump administration’s muscular approach, while indicating possible consideration of shifts on some specific tariff issues, during her first formal statement of the Biden administration’s trade policy on China on Oct 4. While indicating that the Biden team might consider lifting some tariffs on imports of goods…


New US-China Trade Plan Leaves Industry Hungry for Specifics

WASHINGTON—Having waited eight months for U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai’s promised “top-to-bottom” policy review of trade with China, some U.S. industries and experts were complaining about the plan’s lack of specifics on negotiations or timing. Unveiling her plan on Monday, Tai, President Joe Biden’s top trade official, pledged to hold talks with Chinese officials…


Biden Administration to Offer ‘Targeted Tariff Exclusion’ on Chinese Goods

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration will announce on Monday its “new strategy” on trade relations with China, which will include extending tariff exclusion on certain Chinese goods, according to senior administration officials. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in a speech at a Washington think tank on Monday, is planning to reveal the China trade policy of the…