TOKYO – Joe Biden’s White House is signaling a repeal of tariffs on some Chinese goods, but for multiple reasons, there needs to be a firmer grip and faster action. The US leader said earlier this week that his economic team was still discussing dropping levies on certain Chinese goods.
When Biden took office in January 2021, he had two big economic wins at his immediate disposal. The first was ending Donald Trump’s clumsy and chaotic trade war with the nation that makes the vast majority of goods Americans buy. Though Trump claimed China bore the brunt of his 10%-15% levees on imports, households from Miami to Seattle did as well.
The second was rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, which Trump exited in one of his first acts as president – leaving Tokyo to take over the pact’s leadership role. Yet Biden failed to pluck either of these low-hanging pieces of fruit.