China urges US to mend ties as Biden weighs fresh trade probe

China urged the U.S. to take steps to repair damaged ties between the two countries, as the Biden administration weighs a new investigation into Chinese industrial subsidies. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called on the U.S. to uphold the spirit of the telephone conversation last week between President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Zhao was responding to a question about a Bloomberg News report Friday regarding a meeting on a potential investigation into Chinese subsidies and their economic impact.

“We hope the U.S. and Chinese departments concerned will act in accordance with the spirit of the heads of states’ call, properly deal with differences, step up cooperation and get bilateral relations back to the right track of steady development,” Zhao told regular news briefing Monday in Beijing. 

Top Biden economic advisers, including U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, met Friday to discuss the probe, people familiar with the matter said, as the administration considers reinstating an exclusion process for certain tariffs levied under former U.S. President Donald Trump. Some in the administration believe the duties haven’t spurred the desired change in China’s behavior and have lost their value as leverage. 

On Monday, Zhao also took a swipe at Trump’s trade policies comparing them to “lifting rocks which eventually fell on their own foot.” 

Separately, he said China had lodged “solemn representations” with the U.S. over a Financial Times report saying that the Biden administration was considering allowing Taipei to change the name of its de facto embassy in Washington to include the word “Taiwan.” Beijing views such a move as a violation of its bottom line for maintaining ties with foreign nations, and last month recalled its ambassador from Lithuania after a similar decision. 

The Global Times newspaper, a nationalistic tabloid run by China’s Communist Party, said in an editorial that allowing Taipei to establish an office under the Taiwan name would prompt Beijing to recall its ambassador to Washington and take other retaliatory steps.

“The Chinese mainland will have to take severe economic and military measures to combat the arrogance of the U.S. and the island of Taiwan,” the paper said. “At that time, the mainland should impose severe economic sanctions on the island and even carry out an economic blockade on the island, depending on the circumstances.”