Tai Says UK FTA Still on Pause; Says Unfettered Globalization Led to 'Very Fragile Supply Chains'
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai took a victory lap at the U.S Chamber of Commerce's Transatlantic Business Works Summit, pointing to the removal of the digital services taxes on American firms, the agreement on steel and aluminum and the resolution of a 17-year fight on subsidies for Airbus and Boeing.
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"By resolving all of these trade disputes -- in our first year no less -- the Biden-Harris Administration is showing what we can accomplish when we work with our allies in a collaborative and creative manner. Taken together, these agreements with our transatlantic trading partners have reopened markets and removed or averted the imposition of over $20 billion in tariffs," she said.
In a Q&A with Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the Chamber, Tai elaborated, saying not only has the administration transformed the tone of the trade relationship with Europe, "we’ve done it without stepping back or being soft on our economic interests." She said there is still work to be done on coordinating with the European Union on how to protect the steel market in both regions from unfair trade, and in aircrafts, negotiating about what appropriate support is for these major capital investments by their aircraft manufacturers. "We have not solved that issue," she said.
Brilliant also asked her if the U.S. would re-start negotiations on a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. She said that is "on pause," but that the U.S. and the U.K. are working to build on digital trade and prohibitions on forced labor in global supply chains.
He also asked her why the U.S. hasn't joined other countries calling for reducing tariffs on medical products.
Tai said, "Our focus is on thinking through how we do trade smarter," and that there is a lot of nuance when considering what makes for a resilient supply chain in medicine or other medical products.
"Liberalization may be part of it," she said, "but I think we have perused a really unfettered liberalization policy for the last years and decades and it is part of what has brought us to the current reality of very, very fragile supply chains."