USTR: Biden Raises Systems Approach on China

The USTR reported that President Joe Biden’s administration will use a systems approach on China rather than the recent fragmented one.

The above was included by Biden in the 2021 Trade Agenda and the 2020 Annual Report that the USTR presented to the United States Congress.

For the new president, «China’s coercive and unfair trade practices» harm American workers, threaten America’s technological advantage, weaken the resilience of the United States supply chain and undermine national interests.

«Addressing the challenge of China will require a comprehensive strategy and a more systematic approach than the fragmented approach of the recent past,» said the USTR.

Among other actions, the Biden Administration is conducting a comprehensive review of the United States’ trade policy toward China as part of the development of its overall strategy with that Asian nation.

In addition, the USTR said, the Biden Administration is committed to using all available tools to address the range of unfair trade practices in China that continue to harm American workers and businesses.

USTR

The US government stated that these harmful actions include:

• China’s tariff and non-tariff barriers to restrict market access.
• Government-sanctioned forced labor programs.
• Excess capacity in many sectors.
• Industrial policies that use unfair subsidies and favor import substitution and export subsidies (including through export financing).
• Coercive technology transfers.
• Illicit Acquisition and Infringement of US Intellectual Property.
• Censorship and other restrictions on the Internet and the digital economy.
• Lack of treatment of US companies in many sectors comparable to the treatment of Chinese companies in those sectors in the United States.

Other issues

The Biden Administration will also make it a top priority to address the widespread human rights abuses of the Chinese government’s forced labor program, which targets Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. and in other parts of the country.

«Americans and consumers around the world do not want forced labor products on store shelves, and workers should not be disadvantaged in competing with a state-sponsored regime of systematic repression,» added the USTR.

Additionally, the USTR will consider all options to combat forced labor and improve corporate responsibility in the global marketplace.

The Biden Administration will seek strengthened enforcement to ensure that China meets its existing trade obligations.

When there are gaps in international trade rules, the United States will work to address them, including through greater cooperation with its partners and allies.