Brainard: Biden's Indust. Agenda Must Be Paired With Trade Enforcement

MNI London: National Economic Council Director, Lael Brainard, speaking on President Biden's investment and trade agenda at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress, warns that "China's industrial overcapacity and exports in some sectors are so large they can undermine the viability of investments in the US."

• Brainard says that Biden's investment agenda, designed to stimulate growth of the clean energy manufacturing sector, "has to be paired with trade enforcement to make sure it isn't undercut by a floor of unfairly underpriced exports from China."
• Brainard says: "A new cycle of Chinese policy-driven overcapacity and export surges could have adverse consequences for US workers."
• Brainard comments comes after Biden's announcement this week that, following a statutory four-year review by the USTR, all of former President Donald Trump's Section 301 tariffs would remain in place and an additional raft of "strategic" tariffs would be imposed on USD$18 billion of Chinese goods like semiconductors, batteries, solar cells, critical minerals, steel, aluminum and electric vehicles - products which the Biden administration has sought to bolster through roughly USD$1 trillion in federal spending.
• Bloomberg notes: "It’s a move intended to resonate with swing-state voters in an election in which Biden’s handling of the economy is a top concern and where he has struggled to sell his approach. Still, the policy poses risks. Tariffs threaten to raise prices for consumers already frustrated by persistent inflation. And the US is bracing for potential retaliation from China, which has threatened to take “resolute measures.”"