Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that fighting inflation is a more complicated is...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that fighting inflation is a more complicated issue than can be solved with a "single focus" on China tariffs. She also said that the U.S.-Chinese trade relationship needs a "thoughtful, strategic, and deliberate" approach.
Tai told the Washington International Trade Association that inflation was "scary" and hurting Americans' wallets, but that the problem was complicated and had many causes.
Tai said, "The economy is big, and there are a lot of levers and points of pressure in it." "Tariffs at the border aren't the only way to deal with inflation. If we're going to deal with a serious problem like inflation, we need to use tools that take into account the fact that it's more complicated than just tariffs."
Tai's comments showed that the administration of President Joe Biden was still debating whether to cut up to 25% of the "Section 301" duties that former President Donald Trump put on imports from China worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Tai said it was important for the Biden administration to keep good relations with China "to manage this relationship in a way that is thoughtful, strategic, and planned.
"One of the most important jobs of the administration is to figure out how to make this relationship work, and nothing about it is easy "Tai added.
Tai and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have been at odds over the future of the Section 301 tariffs. Yellen says that they hurt U.S. consumers and businesses and don't do much to lower prices, while Tai says that they do.
Tai said that the Biden administration would start figuring out its plan for a major trade deal with 13 Asian countries in the next two weeks. Tai also said that the talks about the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework must be "holistic, very flexible, adaptable, and very, very practical."
She said that she hopes to have a more formal meeting of participating countries this summer, including trade ministers, to talk about labor rights, high environmental standards, digital trade, and the resilience of supply chains.
