Biden said he was not ready to remove tariffs on China, and the U.S. business community could not wait

Biden is ambiguous on the issue of "canceling tariffs on China", but the US business community can't wait.

On the 19th local time, the day before biden's first anniversary of his inauguration as US president, a reporter asked a question at the press conference: "You mentioned China. Do you think it's time to start lifting some of the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports? ”

Biden acknowledged that the U.S. business community has been pressuring him to lower tariffs, and U.S. Trade Representative Dai Qi has also worked to do so, but the answer is "uncertain, this is uncertain."

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"I hope to be able to say that they are fulfilling their commitments, or that they are fulfilling more commitments, and I can remove some of these tariffs, but we are not there yet," he declared. ”

The U.S.-China Procurement Commitment under the Phase I Economic and Trade Agreement expired on December 31 last year, and on whether the Sino-US economic and trade teams have communicated on the continuation or phase II negotiations after the Phase I agreement, the Ministry of Commerce responded on January 13 that at present, the economic and trade teams of the two sides maintain normal communication.

In addition, the data released by the customs on the 14th showed that in December last year, the mainland's trade surplus was 94.46 billion US dollars, a record high. Reuters assessed that China's trade surplus with the United States in the month was $39.23 billion, and the cumulative surplus for the whole year was $396.58 billion.

The South China Morning Post reported that Biden was saying that the pressure from the business community was not enough to persuade him to change course, especially in the absence of any major concessions from China. Reuters noted that some U.S. business groups have "clamored" to remove tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

At a regular press conference held by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on the 20th, some media asked questions about Biden's statement, and Shu Jueting, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said that China has always believed that the cancellation of tariffs is beneficial to China, the United States and the world. Especially in the current inflationary situation, the abolition of tariffs is in the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in China and the United States, and is conducive to the recovery of the world economy.

On the other hand, the South China Morning Post quoted Lu Xiang, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as predicting that China will use its strong position in the global supply chain to continue to pressure the United States to remove these tariffs.

"I believe that China will maintain contact and pressure at the working level. After all, it's in both sides' interest to remove tariffs, especially with U.S. inflation indicators at historic highs. But the United States still believes that tariffs are its bargaining chip. ”

Although Mr. Lu feels it is unlikely that Washington will abandon the tariffs because the Biden administration intends to maintain a "hardline stance" on China. However, "at present, China is the only country with the most stable industrial chain in the world, which is the biggest asset and advantage." ”

Wang Jisi, a professor at Peking University's School of International Relations, said that although Washington has tried to mobilize all parties to support "anti-China", Chinese and American companies still have deep contacts. "In the next step, there is an urgent need for substantive, working dialogue between China and the United States to resolve existing practical issues."

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