Biden wants to pursue policies that target China's “abusive practices”
The future US President Joe Biden wants to keep the additional tariffs introduced by Donald Trump on products from China and other measures in the trade conflict for the time being. He will not limit his options, Biden told the New York Times (NYT). But he wants to forge a broad international coalition quickly for his own China policy.
“The best China strategy is one that brings each of our allies – or at least those who once were – into line,” said Biden.
Unlike Trump, he doesn't just want to focus on the trade deficit, but rather strive to change the Chinese approach. He is particularly interested in “theft of intellectual property, the sale of goods below production costs, illegal subsidies for companies”. But for that you need assertiveness – “and from my point of view we don't have it yet”.
His strategy will include increasing the competitiveness of American companies in competition with China through targeted investments. He is focusing on areas such as energy, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. “I am not going to enter into trade deals with anyone until we have made major investments here at home and for our workers.” Trump had imposed punitive tariffs of 25 percent on various product categories from China in the trade conflict.
