AEI Expert Says New Section 301 Investigation Needed

A senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute says U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai "seems unable to persuade the White House" to fashion new tools to confront China, and complains that if the administration has postponed a second Section 301 investigation, that's a mistake.

Claude Barfield, a former consultant to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, wrote that it would not be hard to update the Trump-era Section 301, "as Beijing’s systematic high-tech protectionism and subsides remain in place and unchanged. The Section 301 statute grants USTR wide latitude to fashion remedies far beyond own-goal tariffs. Additionally, the Biden administration would have at least a year to complete the process and decide on more effective remedies -- and attempt to bring allies on board for specific actions."

He said the choice not to go forward shows the Biden administration is not serious about confronting China's market distortions; the blog post at the conservative think tank said the Trump administration wasn't either.