Trade Rep Tai: Time To Turn Page On Old China "Playbook"

US Trade Rep Katherine Tai is delivering testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee on the US trade budget. Senators from both sides of the aisle accuse the trade rep of refusing to comply with a directive to provide a timeframe for a decision of tariffs.

• Livestream here: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/a-r...
• In opening remarks Tai says a "major component" of the administration's agenda is a "realignment of the US-China trade relationship."
• Tai: "Since last year we have pressed the PRC to live up to phase 1 commitments but several rounds of difficult discussions made clear the limits of the PRC's interest in delivering on those obligations."
• She continues that due to PRC's obfuscation "it is time for us to turn the page on the old playbook. The PRC's non-market industrial policies unfairly target US workers and businesses" [therefore] "we must use all available tools and develop new tools to defend our economic interests and values."
• Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) asks for clarity on China 301 tariffs. Tai responds: "We are committed to ensuring that the 301 tariffs support the administration's long-term vision for realigning US-China trade relations with US priorities."
• Tai: "We in the Biden Administration are moving forward with respect to the entire China trade relationship including the tariffs and the requests for an exclusion process with a deliberativeness to ensure that any exclusion processes that we implement are fair, transparent, administrable, and give our stakeholders time to make their case for relief at a very challenging time."
• Shaheen asks Tai to comply with directive to give a timeframe on a decision.
• Tai says a decision is "pending right now" but again refuses to give a timeframe beyond saying tariffs are under consideration.