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‘Anxiety’ over new US trade policy focused on American workers, cutting China reliance: Katherine Tai
- Past championing of market liberalisation led to fragile supply chains, production abroad and Beijing’s clout, says Washington’s top trade official
- Tai acknowledged encountering some resistance to the new US tack yet cautioned that ‘complacency really isn’t an option’
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Khushboo Razdanin New York
Washington’s top trade official acknowledged encountering resistance and “anxiety” in promoting the Biden administration’s new vision of a trade policy focused on American workers while it slashes reliance on China.
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US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday said “fragile supply chains” and “an unsustainable version of globalisation” were negative outcomes from decades of championing market liberalisation and low prices for consumers as domestic manufacturing suffered.
“When efficiency and low cost are the only motivators, production moves outside our borders,” Tai said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.
Such an approach, she continued, meant production was “increasingly consolidated in one economy, such as the PRC, which manipulates cost structures, controls key industries, and became a dominant supplier for many important goods and technologies”.
Pursuing de-risking and resilience in supply chains was about “improving national security and reducing opportunities for economic coercion”, she added.
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