Daily US Times: US President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Katherine Tai to be the top US trade envoy, according to two people familiar with the issue.
Tai, who is the chief trade counsel for the House ways and means committee, will be tapped as the US trade representative, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The role is a cabinet position, and it has to be approved by the Senate. Biden’s selection of Katherine Tai, who is Asian American and fluent in Mandarin Chinese, reflects his promise to choose a diverse cabinet that reflects the makeup of the country.
Tai earlier oversaw China trade enforcement for the office of the US trade representative, setting US strategy in trade disputes with China. Joe Biden’s trade representative and administration will inherit a trade war with China, put on pause by an interim trade pact in January that left many of the hardest issues unresolved and US taxes remaining on $360bn in Chinese imports.
As the top trade staffer at ways and means, Katherine Tai handled negotiations last year with the Trump administration over a revamped North American trade deal. Under pressure from congressional Democrats, Trump’s trade team agreed to strengthen the pact to make it easier for Mexican workers to form independent unions and demand better pay and benefits – decreasing the incentives for US firms to move south of the border to take advantage of cheap and compliant labor.
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