The top trade adviser under then-President Donald Trump said the U.S. must raise tariffs on all Chinese imports in order to limit economic ties with Beijing.
"I propose doing this clearly and phasing it in over time to minimize disruptions and allow for businesses to change their current practices," former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer wrote in his new book "No Trade Is Free."
Lighthizer said tariffs are the best way to balance the economic relationship with China, which he called the "largest geopolitical threat the United States has faced, perhaps since the American revolution," Bloomberg reported.
Lighthizer outlined an eight-point plan to address risks in dealing with China, including these:
- Repeal permanent normal trade relations with China.
- Strengthen export controls for strategic goods.
- Set other limits on Chinese businesses to prevent them from accessing the U.S. market.
Lighthizer also proposed a radical plan for reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) that would "reset the global tariff system" with a "new baseline" for all tariffs and end special treatment of China.
Lighthizer's plan for the organization also introduces sunset clauses into WTO agreements, and replaces the dispute settlement system with a commercial arbitration mechanism, Bloomberg reported.
Lighthizer wrote that he has been "pleasantly surprised" with President Joe Biden's China policy. Biden "essentially adopted the Trump trade policy," Lighthizer said.
He also commended the passage of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, which increases subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
Lighthizer, however, criticized current USTR Katherine Tai for pausing tariffs against the European Union following a tariff war that impacted $18 billion worth of transatlantic commerce.
In his book, Lighthizer said the Trump administration's trade wars occurred "without any meaningful inflationary effect."
Lighthizer added that the Chinese did not meet their purchasing agreements under his Phase I trade agreement, but he defended the accord for making the U.S. "less dependent on its most dangerous global adversary."
Trump's trade representative also conceded that his term included some mistakes, such as the sequencing of the tariff war with China after the communists slapped national security tariffs on steel and aluminum exported from America's friends and foes.
Lighthizer said he would have preferred if the Chinese tariffs had come first. That way, he "would have tried harder to get Europe to agree to voluntary quotas before imposing" any steel and aluminum tariffs.
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