Mubasher: Joe Biden will not act immediately to remove the Phase 1 trade agreement that President Donald Trump signed with China, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing the US President-elect as saying.
“I’m not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs,” he said. “I’m not going to prejudice my options.”
Under the Phase 1 agreement signed in 2020, Beijing agreed to increase purchases of US goods and services by at least $200 billion over 2020 and 2021.
The deal also includes 25% tariffs on about half of China’s exports to the US worth about $250 billion, and China’s retaliatory levies on more than $100 billion in US goods.
Biden said his “goal would be to pursue trade policies that actually produce progress on China’s abusive practices — that’s stealing intellectual property, dumping products, illegal subsidies to corporations” as well as forcing “tech transfers” from US companies to their Chinese rivals.
He emphasised the importance of developing a bipartisan consensus at home and focusing government efforts on investments in research and development, infrastructure, and education to enable US companies to compete better with Chinese counterparts.
“I want to make sure we’re going to fight like hell by investing in America first,” he noted.