Biden: No New Trade Agreements Until Investments Made Domestically

President-Elect Joe Biden, speaking to Thomas Friedman of the NYT, says that "I'm not going to enter any new trade agreement with anybody until we have made major investments here at home and in our workers", potentially scuppering already-waning UK hopes of a rapid trade deal with the US in 2021.

• "On China, he said he would not act immediately to remove the 25 percent tariffs" or the Phase one deal. "I'm not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs," he said. "I'm not going to prejudice my options." In the interview Biden states that he wants a full strategic review of the agreement with China "so we can develop a coherent strategy."
• Biden also stated that he hoped the US would rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal), that President Trump pulled the US' signature from in 2018.
• "The view of Biden and his national security team is that once the deal is restored by both sides, there will have to be, in very short order, a round of negotiations to seek to lengthen the duration of the restrictions on Iran's production of fissile material that could be used to make a bomb — originally 15 years ..."
• "Look, there's a lot of talk about precision missiles and all range of other things that are destabilizing the region," Biden said. But the fact is, "the best way to achieve getting some stability in the region" is to deal "with the nuclear program."