All tools are on the table to address rising inflation, including reductions of tariffs on Chinese imports, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Monday, but she stressed that any policy shift needed to keep medium-term goals in mind.
Such goals include building a more resilient, durable, global economy that served workers as well as consumers, she noted.
The Biden administration has come under increasing fire from industry for not canceling tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports that were imposed by former President Donald Trump, especially given inflation rates at 40-year highs. The paper said U.S. consumer price index inflation would decline by 1.3 percentage points if the United States and China eliminated tariffs, and Washington scrapped tariffs on steel and aluminum from all countries, as well as softwood lumber from Canada.