Chamber of Commerce Endorses Tai for USTR

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has warmly endorsed Katherine Tai to be U.S. trade representative. In a letter sent Feb. 23, Executive Vice President Myron Brilliant said her experience at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and as chief trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, is invaluable. “She combines policy acumen, negotiating experience, and political savvy,” he wrote. “While one important aspect of USTR’s mission is to address unfair trading practices, the previous Administration’s dramatic expansion in the application of tariffs contributed directly to a manufacturing and agriculture recession well in advance of the [COVID-19] pandemic, and this experience illustrates the perils of an excessive reliance on tariffs. The next USTR must avoid the use of tariffs as a blunt instrument, and must avoid inaction on trade agreements as well,” he said, adding that Tai understands that.

The endorsement followed a blog post by John Murphy, Chamber senior vice president for international policy, that said that the impulse to impose conditions on trade in order to achieve other objectives “has its limits.” For example: “The U.S. pressed Mexico to accept new labor rules as a condition of its continued access to the U.S. market under USMCA. However, the fact that Mexico agreed reflects its unique dependence on the U.S. economy, and it may be impossible to reproduce elsewhere,” he said.

He also said, “Congressional Democrats are seeking to tighten conditions in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which afforded 120 developing countries duty-free access to the U.S. market for select goods before it lapsed last year. GSP’s objective is to foster trade-related growth in developing countries, but if they are obliged to jump through too many hoops to access its relatively modest benefits, will they just take a pass?

“With many champions of conditionality already joining the fray, the question is: Who on the Biden trade team will be an advocate for trade-driven growth? Can a workable balance between these two imperatives be struck?”