Biden’s trade nominee vows ‘worker-centric’ model to protect jobs

US Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai’s stance suggests a permanent shift away from the liberalisation policies of the pre-Trump era.

Katherine Tai, United States President Joe Biden’s top trade nominee, backed tariffs as a “legitimate tool” to counter China’s state-driven economic model and promised to hold Beijing to its prior commitments while promising a sweeping new approach to US trade. At her Senate confirmation hearing to become the US Trade Representative (USTR), Tai also called for a revamp of global trade rules to eliminate what she called “grey areas” exploited by China and end a “race to the bottom” that she said had 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 liberalised our trade, the more peace and prosperity there would be,” Tai said, adding that trade liberalisation in the past too often led to less prosperity, and lower labour and environmental standards.