President Donald Trump holds a trade agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, in the East Room of the White House in Washington on January 15, 2020. In a rare interview late on Tuesday, Lighthizer defended the Trump administration’s record in shredding the status quo on trade and imposing unilateral tariffs on US$370 billion worth of Chinese goods. The tariffs have cost U.S. importers US$71.6 billion since they started in July of 2018, according to U.S. Customs data. They forced companies to tear up supply chains, roiled financial markets and slowed economic growth well before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Most important, Lighthizer said, Trump’s efforts “have changed the way people think about China in the economic sphere,” causing businesses to rethink their reliance on Chinese supply chains.

Source: The Standard December 17, 2020 02:03 UTC