Chinese experts have said they see a “positive signal” in the Biden administration’s approach to its differences with China on trade.
The Global Times, a newspaper often used as an English-language state mouthpiece, on Tuesday quoted experts commenting on US Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s call for a “frank conversation” with Beijing in remarks delivered in Washington on Monday.
In the comments, “Tai explained the importance of realigning [Washington’s] trade policies towards China in order to defend the interests of America’s workers, businesses, farmers, and producers, and to strengthen our middle class,” according to a statement by her office.
“The ‘frank conversation’ from Tai is a positive signal, since [the] China-US trade talk mechanism is always there, while the word ‘frank’ may indicate the US realized it has to resolve bilateral trade frictions in a more pragmatic manner,” said Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
This was also in line with China’s US strategy. Beijing insists that differences should be resolved through candid talks while maintaining normal trade between the world’s two largest economies.
Gao added that the US proposal showed the levies the US imposed on Chinese products are apparently no longer having as big an impact as intended.
The US had neither found alternatives for Chinese products nor forced industrial chains to move out of China, Gao asserted.
“I would still hold a ‘cautious optimistic’ attitude toward future trade ties between the two countries, as there are a range of unresolved, complicated issues that’s far beyond trade,” Gao added.
Another analyst told the paper that imposing tariffs on bilateral trade would definitely harm US consumers and manufacturers and wouldn’t help the Biden administration combat inflation.
“Any escalation of coercive trade measures from the Biden administration will cause heightened confrontation, and backfire on the US,” the analyst noted.
US President Joe Biden last month told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, that the US would continue efforts to “responsibly manage the competition” between Beijing and Washington in the second phone call between the two since Biden took office in January.
Biden and Xi “discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict,” the White House said at the time.
A trade war with tariffs from both sides started under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
The relationship has hit its lowest point since diplomatic relations were taken up in 1979, and Biden appears set to continue Trump’s hard line against Beijing.
Xi blamed the US for the worsening relationship, saying that the China policy adopted by Washington “for some time has caused serious difficulties” for relations, according to Chinese state media.
