'US will not hesitate to call out China's coercive trade practices'

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday said that Washington will not hesitate to call out China`s coercive trade practices and added that Washington welcomes the trade competition but it must be fair.

Speaking before a committee hearing on the Biden administration`s trade policy agenda, Tai said, "We will not hesitate to call out China`s coercive and unfair trade practices that harm American workers, undermine the multilateral system, or violate basic human rights. We are working towards a strong, strategic approach to our trade and economic relationship with China."

"We welcome the competition. But the competition must be fair, and if China cannot or will not adapt to international rules and norms, we must be bold and creative in taking steps to level the playing field and enhance our capabilities and partnerships," she added.

This comes as the Biden administration is still evaluating China`s compliance to the trade commitments it made with the previous Trump era and added that those commitments will ascertain how Washington will move forward in its ties with Beijing.

Tai had said last month that, "We are in the process of examining performance and are scrutinizing all the aspects of what they have done and what they have yet to do and what they have not done at the levels that they promised."

"These promises and China`s ability to keep them ... will be a priority for us as we examine our options for engagement with China and all of our enforcement options."

In January 2020, China had agreed to buy at least USD 200 billion more in US goods and services over two years on top of its purchases in 2017. The Phase One deal was struck by former President Donald Trump after a tariffs fight that started between the two countries.

China imported about USD 100 billion of US goods - only 58 per cent of the actual targeted volume of USD 173.1 billion for 2020, in the first year of the arrangement, Sputnik reported.

Biden administration has had a rocky start in the US relationship with China, with officials from the two countries openly bickering before the media at a meeting in Alaska hosted by US State Secretary Anthony Blinken last month.

Both the countries have continued to tussle on issues about Hong Kong, Xinjiang, South China Sea, and the Indo-Pacific region. The only issue they partially seem to agree on is climate change.