U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 12, 2021. Pete Marovich/Pool via REUTERS
"She's going to re-engage with China and that's a good thing," said Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University trade economist who attended Tai's speech in Washington. "But her whole plan seems to be, 'I'm going to have a conversation.'" Tai's speech, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, won support from Democratic lawmakers, unions as well as a former Trump administration trade official.
The US-China Business Council said it feared tariffs might become permanent, given the lack of any clear road map. The National Foreign Trade Council called for a "robust" tariff exclusion process to provide some relief for companies hammered by the U.S.-China trade war. How those discussions unfold depends in part on "how much traction we get with China and to what degree we have to take our own measures to defend our interests," Tai said.
Specifics? Clearly 'America First' will sum it all.🤣