WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden's nominee for trade chief called on China to live up to the commitments in its trade pact with the United States - the strongest signal yet that the new administration plans to build on the accord brokered by its predecessor rather than scrap it.
China "needs to deliver" on the promises it made in the agreement, Ms Katherine Tai, the pick for US trade representative, told senators during her confirmation hearing on Thursday.
She acknowledged that former officials have tried before to achieve structural changes in China's economy and faced obstacles, saying the Biden administration needs to be "exploring all our options".
Ms Tai received plaudits from Democrats and Republicans alike and is widely expected to be easily confirmed.
Her promise of a process-and consultation-driven approach is welcomed by lawmakers after four years of chaos under former president Donald Trump, with tariff actions often coming as surprises announced via Twitter.
But Ms Tai offered few details on plans to hold China accountable. Given broad support for her confirmation, the hearing was more a chance for senators to publicly ask her about issues important to their constituents than to push her for answers, said Mr Simon Lester, the associate director of the Centre for Trade Policy Studies at the Washington-based Cato Institute.
"She was controlled, she was measured, she did what needed to be done," he said. "The votes are not in doubt, so she didn't have to push hard and 'wow' anybody. She needed to not make any mistakes."
China-US trade ties are mutually beneficial, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular briefing in Beijing yesterday.
"Both stand to win from cooperation and lose from confrontation," he said. "Cooperation is the only correct choice for both."
Mr Biden this week directed his administration to identify supply chain vulnerabilities for key goods like semiconductors and rare earths - materials for which the US is heavily dependent on other countries, including adversaries like Beijing.
When asked if her predecessor was on the right track to reshore critical supply chains to the US, Ms Tai said she wants to accomplish "similar goals but in a more process-driven manner".
The US and China fought a trade war under Mr Trump that continues to see tariffs applied on about US$335 billion (S$445 billion) of Chinese goods annually. In the agreement reached last year, China promised to purchase more American products. Beijing missed its 2020 trade-deal targets as the global pandemic upended shipping and supply chains.
China also pledged to combat the theft by Chinese companies of US intellectual property and to do more to enforce IP rights in the country while also opening up its domestic market to US financial service providers.
The White House has said the trade deal, as well as other China-related actions taken by the previous administration, are under review until the Biden team decides on a path forward.
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