Biden's top US trade official is long-time China critic Katherine Tai

PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden has named Katherine Tai, a trade lawyer with a history of taking on China, as his incoming administration's pick for the United States' top trade representative.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ms Tai, who is Asian-American would also be the first woman of colour to serve as the US Trade Representative (USTR). She is fluent in Mandarin and would inherit a critical, Cabinet-level position tasked with enforcing America's import rules and brokering trading terms with China and other nations.



Ms Tai would succeed current trade czar Robert Lighthizer, whose achievements during the Trump administration include a more-forceful tact in negotiations with Beijing and the imposition of hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of tariffs on goods imported from China.



Though Ms Tai may favour multilateral enforcement mechanisms more than Mr Lighthizer, her leadership as USTR wouldn't necessarily signal a change to the tougher stance toward China. She has said that China should be addressed forcefully and strategically.



'They both also have a long history of dealing with China's unfair practices, the most pressing trade issue of our time,' according to former top White House trade negotiator Clete Willems. 'Where Katherine's approach is most likely to differ is on how she uses the WTO system and alliances to pressure China to change behaviour.'



The president-elect heralded Ms Tai's experience in a press release as key to important insights while the incoming administration reviews the trade deal outgoing President Donald Trump brokered with Beijing, reports CNBC.



'Her deep experience will allow the Biden-Harris administration to hit the ground running on trade and harness the power of our trading relationships to help the US dig out of the Covid-induced economic crisis and pursue the President-elect's vision of a pro-American worker trade strategy,' the Biden transition team wrote.



From 2007 to 2014, Ms Tai successfully litigated Washington's disputes against Beijing at the WTO, the global trade organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.


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