Biden says ‘uncertain’ whether China tariffs will be lifted

President Joe Biden said that he’s not ready to lift tariffs his predecessor imposed on Chinese imports, despite calls from U.S. businesses to relieve the duties.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is “working on that right now,” Biden said at a news conference Wednesday marking his first year in office. But “the answer is uncertain,” he added.

“I’d like to be able to be in a position where I could say they’re meeting their commitments—more than their commitments—and be able to lift some of it, but we’re not there yet,” he said.

Data point to China having posted a record trade surplus with the U.S. in 2021, thanks in large part to Americans’ pandemic-stoked appetite for Chinese-made goods, from home electronics to bicycles.

But Biden’s promised new China strategy, set to be unveiled late last year, has been delayed, and so far he’s largely kept in place policies from the Trump administration while calling out Chinese leaders over abuses in Hong Kong and against ethnic Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

When asked for comments on the Biden remarks, China’s commerce ministry Thursday repeated its call for the U.S. to remove tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. Shu Jueting, spokeswoman of the ministry, told reporters at a regular briefing that the move would benefit China, the United States and the world.

“Especially under the current inflation situation, the cancellation of tariffs is in the fundamental interests of consumers and producers in China and the United States, and is conducive to the recovery of the world economy,” she said.