The United States continues discussions with China despite Beijing's failure to adhere to the trade agreement reached during former President Donald Trump's administration. However, this process may end soon, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. The sources indicated that Biden administration officials are trying to assess China's willingness to make further concessions but consider this unlikely.
Nonetheless, the White House plans to allow the talks to continue before Biden's team considers the next steps on how to respond. Trade data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce last week confirmed that China has not fulfilled its commitments under the Phase One Agreement, and U.S. officials pledged to hold China accountable, although a specific timeline for countermeasures was not mentioned, according to what Al Arabiya learned.
The Biden team also emphasized that the trade agreement with China does not address the longstanding U.S. concerns about China's state-led economic system, a matter that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai noted she wants to focus on in negotiations with Beijing.
For his part, Adam Hodge, a spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative's Office, stated last week: "We will continue our necessary efforts to reshape our policy with China by enhancing resilience and competitiveness at home, diversifying markets, reducing the impact of Beijing's detrimental practices, collaborating with allies and partners, and employing a full range of tools we have to defend the economic interests of Americans."
Bloomberg reported last year that the U.S. administration was considering launching an investigation under Section 301 to address Chinese industrial support, which usually takes months to conclude and could lead to additional tariffs.
As further potential measures against Beijing, the United States continues to review whether it will restrict foreign investment and how it will limit that, in addition to potential restrictions on applications like TikTok and WeChat, which U.S. officials say pose risks to the data security of Americans.
