Senator Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., warned of President Biden's removal of China trade tariffs on Mornings with Maria Wednesday, and he argued that the misguided policy will lift the only leverage the U.S. has in place to ensure stable trade relations and control rampant inflation.
S. Senator. BILL HAGERTY: It's a misguided policy. If you think about what the Chinese Communist Party has seen with Joe Biden, it's been a gift from day one reentering the Paris Climate Accords. China laughs all the way to the bank on that. There is a huge benefit to China if you look at our energy policies here in America. They're talking about lifting the only leverage we've got in place right now to bring China to more normalized trade relations with us?
I was ambassador to Japan, working hard on our trade deal with Japan. Bob Lighthizer, his team, was working on putting these tariffs in place on China at the same time. We didn't have rampant inflation after the tariffs were installed, but we did have leverage. The Biden administration wants to give away that leverage and get nothing for it in return.
I understand why Katherine Tai, the current trade representative, doesn't want to do this. The Biden administration is pursuing this gimmick, and it's just another gimmick. It's a net benefit to China.