President Biden will keep in place former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods as he considers the next steps regarding trade policy toward the Asian powerhouse after Beijing spent years clashing with the Trump administration, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
“He will take a multilateral approach to engaging with China, and that includes evaluating the tariffs currently in place,” she told reporters on Monday.
“We’re starting from an approach of patience with our relationship with China,” she said, adding that the Biden administration will conduct an interagency review and talk with congressional and foreign allies before deciding what laws to enact or what regulatory action to take.
Chinese President Xi Jinping implored global leaders on Monday to return to multilateral economics during a speech at the World Economic Forum’s Davos meeting. Xi warned against building “small circles” or starting “a new Cold War” that would “only push the world into division and even confrontation.”
His remarks were his first since Biden was sworn into office.
In a foreign policy-heavy briefing, Psaki said Xi’s comments wouldn’t influence Biden’s thinking. She also described China as “growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad.”
“Beijing is now challenging our security, prosperity, and values in significant ways that require a new U.S. approach,” she said, reiterating Biden’s distaste for China’s “abuse” of intellectual property rights, industrial espionage, and unfair technology transfers.
Trump’s “phase one” trade deal with China didn’t lift 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, which were levied against the country as part of his so-called “trade war.”
Biden told an interviewer last month that he didn’t plan on immediately rolling back Trump’s tariffs.
The new president, with his 47-year record in Washington, has been criticized for what has been perceived as a soft stance against China. During a televised town hall last fall, he refused to call Russia an “enemy” or China an “opponent.”
“I view China as a competitor, a serious competitor,” he said.
