USTR Reviews 2021 Accomplishments, Talks About Goals for 2022

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in a year-end video, pointed to a number of settlements during 2021 that both bolstered America's relationships with its allies and promoted the fight against climate change. She pointed to the settlement of a Section 337 case between two South Korean battery makers that allowed for a Georgia plant to open (see 2104120004); the settlement of the 17-year dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing (see 2106150021 and 2106170025); and the agreement between the European Union and the U.S. to replace Section 232 tariffs with a quota system (see 2111010039).

On steel and aluminum, she said: "This agreement will help us address overcapacity and fight climate change by working towards a new global arrangement to reduce the carbon footprint of these two industries." Speaking broadly about the year, she said that "the strong foundation rooted in trust and respect that we created this year will help us reach even higher heights in 2022."

In the new year, she said, the U.S. will be focusing on China's performance under the phase one trade agreement. Through November, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China only bought 62% as much as it promised to, but in agriculture, it was closer to 80%. Aside from the specific commitments made to the previous administration, Tai said: "We will continue to press Beijing on the harm its relentless industrial policies have wreaked on workers and businesses in open economies like ours." She didn't allude directly to the new law tightening up the ban on goods made from forced labor from China, but she said: "We will support workers' rights around the world and enhance our efforts to end forced labor in global supply chains."