Trump’s trade challenge
Biden’s parting gift throws down the gauntlet to the incoming president on industrial policy
THE first Trump administration reversed America’s stance on global trade. Joe Biden then doubled down on Donald Trump’s tariffs, while adding industrial policy to the mix. Now, his parting gift to Trump is a new trade verdict that argues for US government support for the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors in the face of Chinese competition. It will be the first big test of whether Trump’s second term will be focused on the economic desires of his base, or the “tech-industrial complex” decried by Biden in his parting speech.
The timing is no accident. The investigation, issued by the US Trade Representative under Section 301 of the Trade Act, lays out how China has used non-market practices to dominate the global maritime industry. While Biden has supported pushing back against such practices, not everyone in the Democratic Party has been eager to make the shift.
By releasing the case four days before Trump’s inauguration, the departing administration made sure it did not get derailed by Democrats who would prefer to tiptoe away from the issue of Chinese mercantilism. It also threw down a gauntlet for Trump. Will tariffs be his only tool? Or will he support industrial policy and US workers in more effective and durable ways?
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