USTR Holds Her First ‘Candid Exchange’ With Chinese Counterpart

Few details were released by either side about Wednesday’s virtual meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He. Their “introductory” caucus featured a “candid exchange” about the Biden administration’s “worker-centered” trade policy and Tai’s “ongoing review of the U.S.-China trade relationship, while also raising issues of concern,” said a USTR agency readout. The U.S. and China “engaged in candid, pragmatic and constructive communication with an attitude of equality and mutual respect,” said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday. “Believing that bilateral trade is of great significance, the two sides exchanged views on issues of common concern, and agreed to keep in contact,” he said. Tai’s agency is running a “top-to-bottom review” of U.S. trade and economic policy toward China, including the Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, with no “timeline” for its completion, she told a House Ways and Means Committee hearing last week (see 2105140023).