The job, sometimes called the “trade czar,” is expected to be a lynchpin position as Biden pledges to reverse predecessor Donald Trump’s “America First” policies, build jobs at home, and punish Beijing for anti-competitive trade practices. Tai played a key role in negotiating stronger labor provisions with the Trump administration in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal, and has solid backing in labor and business circles, people familiar with the Biden team’s deliberations say. A Yale and Harvard-educated Chinese-American who speaks Putonghua and taught university English for two years in Guangzhou, Tai also headed China trade enforcement at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR) from 2011 to 2014, litigating trade violation cases before the World Trade Organization. Tai, 45, did not respond to a request for comment and a spokeswoman for the House Ways and Means Committee said she was not granting interviews at this time. Tai faces stiff competition for the USTR post from Michael Wessel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Ways and Means Committee Democrat from California.

Source: The Standard November 26, 2020 02:48 UTC