The Biden administration isn't ready to remove, modify or suspend tariffs on goods from China.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai sees value in the tariffs which were imposed starting in 2018 "to remedy an unbalanced and unfair trade situation" created by China.
She also said "yanking off tariffs" right away might cause economic problems unless the changes are "communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments."
However, there are merits to the arguments made by those seeking to remove the tariffs. Tai said the economic concerns of the antitariff groups are legitimate.
Two of these groups, the National Foreign Trade Council and the Tariff Reform Coalition, contend tariffs had harmed the U.S. economy while failing to force China to reform its practices.
Tai told the Senate Finance committee during her confirmation hearings that she supports the tariffs as a "legitimate tool" to counter China's state-driven economic model. She also said she'll hold China to the commitments it made under the Phase One trade deal while promising a sweeping new approach to U.S. trade.
Tai also called for revamping world trade rules to eliminate the many "gray areas" exploited by China and end a "race to the bottom" that hurt workers and the environment.
"For a very long time our trade policies were based on the assumption that the more we traded with each other, and more liberalized our trade, the more peace and prosperity there would be," according to Tai.
The U.S. imposes tariffs on 66% of goods from China. The average tariff on China exports to the U.S. is 19% - or more than six times higher than before the trade war began in 2018.
China imposed higher tariffs on 58% of U.S. exports. The average tariff rate China levies on U.S. exports is 21%.
The tariffs on China-made goods have cost American importers more than $82 billion so far, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They also eliminated 300,000 jobs and reduced the U.S. Gross domestic product in 2018 by 0.3%.
JPMorgan Chase said the tariffs increased expenses for the average American household by $600 a year.
