In the trade conflict with China, the US continues to take a hard line

In the trade conflict with China, the US continues to take a hard line. The US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced "open talks" with Beijing about broken agreements. China has made commitments in favor of certain US industries, such as agriculture, "which we must enforce". While the government of President Joe Biden is holding on to the imposed punitive tariffs for the time being, there are said to be exceptions in certain cases. A new procedure is to be started with which goods can be exempted from the punitive tariffs imposed on China under the previous government under Donald Trump, as Tai said in a speech at the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. Influential US business associations had asked the Biden government at the beginning of August to lower the punitive tariffs, as they are ultimately paid by importers and increase costs for US companies. The two largest economies in the world have been engaged in a bitter trade conflict since 2018 by imposing massive punitive tariffs on each other. In January 2020, both sides finally signed a partial agreement. In it, Beijing pledged to import more US goods and respect intellectual property. In return, the USA waived new punitive tariffs and lowered some of the existing tariffs. After taking office last January, Biden hired his trade representative Tai to review US trade policy with China. In principle, he is sticking to a tough course with regard to China, which he considers to be the greatest geopolitical challenge for the USA. Tai stressed that the US government did not want to "inflame" the "trade tensions with China" any further. China's "state-centered and non-market-conforming trade practices" would continue to cause "serious worries". Washington will use the full range of existing tools and develop new tools to defend US economic interests against "harmful tactics and practices," said Tai.