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Biden campaigned against the trade war with China, but ending it is complicated
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So far, President Biden has kept the steep tariffs on Chinese goods put in place by his predecessor. On Monday, his administration plans to unveil details of its own trade policy with China.
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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
When President Trump launched a trade war with China, Democrats warned it was a reckless move that could hurt the U.S. economy. And yet, as NPR's Asma Khalid reports, it's nine months into Joe Biden's presidency, and there's still no sign that this president plans to abandon the signature weapon of that war - tariffs.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: When Joe Biden was running for president, he campaigned against Donald Trump's tariffs.
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PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: President Trump may think his being tough on China - all that he has delivered as a consequence of that is American farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.
KHALID: Trump said China was trading unfairly, and so he imposed tariffs on approximately $360 billion worth of imports. And yet, for all of Biden's criticism, those tariffs are to date still in place. Biden's team has been reviewing trade policy for months behind closed doors.
On Monday, some of those insights will come out. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will deliver a major speech on the U.S.-China trade relationship. Biden wants the U.S. to be more competitive with China, but it's not clear what tools he has to do that.
MYRON BRILLIANT: The reality is that we don't hold all the cards.
KHALID: Myron Brilliant is with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
BRILLIANT: It's not just about what is our policy towards China, but it's also about what's going on in China.
KHALID: Under President Xi Jinping, China has become more economically aggressive, and that makes it harder to get rid of the tariffs.
BRILLIANT: We were never in favor of these tariffs. We thought they imposed a tax on American consumers and, of course, American manufacturers. But we think it's probably not realistic in the context of where the U.S.-China relations sit today to see all the tariffs removed at one time.
KHALID: Despite the cost to Americans, some experts say trade policy isn't really about economics anymore.
Chad Bown with the Peterson Institute for International Economics says studies show tariffs have hurt the American economy. But he's also sort of accepted that politically, it's just not easy to get rid of them.
CHAD BOWN: Arguing the merits of economic costs is sort of like shouting at windmills because it's not only about economic costs and efficiency anymore. It's about national security. It's about, you know, supply chain resilience and public health.
KHALID: The pandemic underscored some of the problems of relying on goods from overseas, and American public opinion has hardened toward China. Polling from the Pew Research Center finds that more than three-quarters of Americans have an unfavorable view of China. Again, Chad Bown.
BOWN: What has happened in the United States is China is now a bipartisan issue, unpopular both with Republicans and Democrats. And simply going back to the way things were before President Trump would be viewed politically as somehow being weak on China.
KHALID: The U.S. doesn't have a lot of options to take up its trade complaints against China. And some believe tariffs give the United States leverage.
KELLY ANN SHAW: It's easy to criticize and to say, you know, this tool doesn't really get at the challenges that you're facing. But it's really hard to come up with an alternative.
KHALID: Kelly Ann Shaw worked on international trade issues in the Trump administration.
SHAW: Tariffs are an imperfect tool, but they are one that seems to work, and they at least get attention sufficient that it brings China to the negotiating table or at least to talk about issues.
KHALID: Shaw helped negotiate the phase one deal with China, in which Beijing agreed to buy a lot of goods from the United States. But China has not completely lived up to the deal. Plus, that trade pact didn't touch on one of the thorniest issues - subsidies.
Jennifer Hillman is with the Council on Foreign Relations.
JENNIFER HILLMAN: The probably single biggest complaint that the United States has about what China has done is that it's captured all of this market share and created these huge, huge companies on the backs of subsidies - government subsidies that are provided to Chinese companies.
KHALID: But perhaps the biggest distinction between Trump and Biden isn't how they view tariffs or how they view China, but how they view the world. Biden believes in the strength of alliances and is convinced he can pressure China more effectively if he gets Europe and Japan on the same side. But that only works if your allies agree to come along.
Asma Khalid, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.