US trade chief Tai says US faces 'very large challenges' on China
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
US trade chief Tai says US faces 'very large challenges' on China

Global Economy

Reuters
27 May, 2021, 10:00 am
Last modified: 27 May, 2021, 10:09 am

Related News

  • UN rights chief says she urged China to review counter-terrorism policies
  • China's first residential REITs to be launched
  • Samoa signs China agreement amid South Pacific push
  • Keep the South China Sea free, Biden tells Navy graduates
  • China's external portfolio investment assets top 979B USD by end of 2021

US trade chief Tai says US faces 'very large challenges' on China

Tai spoke with Reuters in an interview before her first virtual call with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a meeting in which she raised "issues of concern," according to her office

Reuters
27 May, 2021, 10:00 am
Last modified: 27 May, 2021, 10:09 am
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, May 12, 2021. Pete Marovich/Pool via REUTERS
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, May 12, 2021. Pete Marovich/Pool via REUTERS

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Wednesday that the United States still faces "very large challenges" in its trade and economic relationship with China that require the Biden administration's attention across the board.

Tai spoke with Reuters in an interview before her first virtual call with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a meeting in which she raised "issues of concern," according to her office.

"During their candid exchange, Ambassador Tai discussed the guiding principles of the Biden-Harris administration's worker-centered trade policy and her ongoing review of the US-China trade relationship, while also raising issues of concern," the USTR said.

China's commerce ministry described the talks as "a candid, pragmatic and constructive exchange".

"Both sides view the development of bilateral trade as very important. (Both sides) exchanged views on issues of mutual concern and agreed to maintain communication."

The meeting marked the first formal engagement between the trade chiefs of the world's two largest economies since US President Joe Biden took office in January.

It came at a time when Biden has sharply criticized China on human rights abuses and sought to rally his Group of Seven rich nation allies to form a united front on China. 

China's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic - which has now killed more than 3 million people worldwide - has also rankled the United States and its allies.

Biden on Wednesday ordered aides to investigate rival theories held by US intelligence agencies on the origin of the virus, including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China. China said it supported a 'thorough investigation' but warned the United States to avoid politicizing the issue.

The Biden administration is conducting a comprehensive review of US-China trade policy, ahead of the expiry of the Phase 1 deal at the end of 2021.

Challenges 'Still There'

Tai told Reuters the Phase 1 trade deal was important but only part of a complex relationship.

"The overall challenges that we have with China are also still there and they are very large," Tai said.

Tai said the Phase 1 trade deal should be seen in the context of "the overall US-China trade, and economic relationship which is very, very challenging. And requires our attention all across the board."

The two countries signed the trade deal in January 2020 - just before the Covid-19 pandemic began. It calls for China to increase purchases of US agricultural goods, manufactured products, energy and services by $200 billion over 2020 and 2021, compared with a 2017 baseline.

The deal eased a two-year tariff war between the United States and China waged by former President Donald Trump that aimed to change China's trade practices, although duties remain in place on hundreds of billions of dollars of trade.

The Biden administration has promised a similarly muscular pushback on China's state-driven economic model, with new investments in innovation to maintain a US technological edge.

China fell about 40% short of its purchase targets in 2020, and is still lagging in its imports in 2021, with just seven months to go in the two-year deal.

Through 2020, China's total imports of covered products from the United States were $99.9 billion, compared with the commitment of $173.1 billion, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

China also agreed to ease barriers in its financial services sector and agricultural biotechnology regulations, as well as to take steps to protect US intellectual property.

The deal failed to address fundamental US concerns about technology transfer and massive subsidies for state-owned enterprises - issues that the Trump administration had said it would address in a second phase trade agreement.

Top News / World+Biz

china / US trade chief

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Finance projects export fall, remittance rise
    Finance projects export fall, remittance rise
  • Photo: TBS
    After 72-hour ultimatum, health directorate goes after illegal medical facilities 
  • Photo: Bloomberg
    Direct shipping now to Netherlands 

MOST VIEWED

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with members of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) All-Russian Public Organization at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, 3 February, 2022. PHOTO: Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS
    Putin says he's willing to discuss resuming Ukrainian grain shipments
  • Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves Downing Street in London, Britain, January 22, 2020. Photo: Reuters
    G7 working to resume grain exports from Ukraine, UK's Johnson tells Zelenskiy
  • Pak PM says hiking fuel prices 'inevitable' to save country from bankruptcy
    Pak PM says hiking fuel prices 'inevitable' to save country from bankruptcy
  • Pakistan hikes fuel prices to unlock IMF funding
    Pakistan hikes fuel prices to unlock IMF funding
  • Photo: Collected
    Gangs, inflation and political crisis bring Haiti economy to brink
  • Zhang Tieliang 76, sifts through dunes of low-grade coal near a coal mine in Ruzhou, Henan province, China November 4, 2021. Photo :Reuters
    India seen facing wider coal shortages, worsening power outage risks

Related News

  • UN rights chief says she urged China to review counter-terrorism policies
  • China's first residential REITs to be launched
  • Samoa signs China agreement amid South Pacific push
  • Keep the South China Sea free, Biden tells Navy graduates
  • China's external portfolio investment assets top 979B USD by end of 2021

Features

Women voluntarily joined the peaceful procession and protested by wearing clothing of their own choice. Photo: Trishia Nashtaran

The unhealthy obsession with what women wear

2h | Panorama
Illustration: Freepik

Bangladesh is on the verge of destigmatising menstruation

6h | Features
Photo: Collected

The death of Davos?

12h | Panorama
A male Baya Weaver beating wings. Photo: Enam Ul Haque

Baya Weavers weave: ‘Must be witnessed to be fully credited’

15h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Attorney General's suggestion to reduce case clutter

Attorney General's suggestion to reduce case clutter

6h | Videos
Russian forces take Liman city of Ukraine

Russian forces take Liman city of Ukraine

6h | Videos
JU food prices spike, students suffer

JU food prices spike, students suffer

6h | Videos
5% tax on poultry farmers earning above Tk10 lakh

5% tax on poultry farmers earning above Tk10 lakh

6h | Videos

Most Read

1
Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed
Banking

Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed

2
Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards
NBR

Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards

3
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

Misfit Technologies: A Singaporean startup rooted firmly in Bangladesh

4
British International Investment (BII) CEO Nick O’Donohoe. Illustration: TBS
Economy

BII to invest $450m in Bangladesh in 5 years

5
Representational image. Picture: Pixabay
Economy

Govt raises regulatory duty to discourage imports of 130 products

6
Photo: Collected
Industry

Spanish recycled cotton producer opens new facility in Bangladesh

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab