US maintains Donald Trump’s hard line in trade dispute with China

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Monday announced that Washington will seek new trade talks with China. Washington believes Beijing has not honored its commitments under an agreement signed with the former US President Donald Trump in January 2020 known as the “phase one” trade deal. US President Joe Biden had also kept in place the tariffs imposed by his predecessor as Tai conducted a review of US trade strategy toward China. Generally, the US sees a bleak outlook. A Biden administration official told the AFP news agency that Washington was aware “that China is unlikely to make meaningful reforms right now,” and that there was no push for starting long-awaited “phase two” negotiations.