U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that the Biden administration is prepared to engage in a long-term competition with China and to work with allies to adopt both a defensive and offensive strategy. Raimondo believes the offensive is more important than the defensive.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo said Wednesday, “We must have both an offensive and a defensive approach. The American Jobs Initiative is the offense, and investing in America’s competitiveness is good enough to allow us to be proactive. Many of the tools that the Commerce Department has are defensive, such as entity lists, tariffs and so on. My overall view is that offense is more important than defense.”
At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, April 7, U.S. Commerce Secretary Raimondo said White House National Security Advisor Sullivan is leading an assessment of policy toward China, including a list of entities targeting China. The assessment is currently underway. Regarding the tariffs that have been imposed on Chinese goods, Raimondo said she believes the tariffs have their uses and that the previous tariffs on steel and aluminum were beneficial to U.S. industry. And China does not compete fairly in trade, and she intends to use all means to protect U.S. companies and labor against China’s coercive, deceptive and unfair trade practices. This statement is consistent with that of U.S. Trade Representative Dyche.
President Biden spoke at the White House on Wednesday afternoon to promote the nearly $2 trillion American Jobs Plan. The plan includes not only traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges, but also digital technology construction, including electronic vehicle charging stations, broadband networks and more. Biden said that some Republicans criticized the plan as too large, only needing to renovate damaged roads and bridges. He stressed that the world does not stop and wait while the United States wanders.
President Biden said: “Do you think China is waiting to invest in digital infrastructure research and development? I assure you, they are not waiting. China is watching to see if American democracy is too slow, too restrictive and too divisive to keep up. We can’t prove China is right. We have to show the world, and more importantly prove like ourselves, that democracy works.”
Biden noted that 35 percent of Americans do not have broadband Internet, which poses a challenge to the modern U.S. economic system. White House spokeswoman Sachs said at a White House press briefing Wednesday that according to the latest polls, nearly all businesses, and an overwhelming majority of Americans, including many Republicans, support the American Jobs Initiative.
State Department spokesman Ned Price, asked at a State Department press briefing Tuesday whether he was boycotting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because of human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang, said “that’s something that we continue to discuss with our allies.
But later in the evening, the State Department issued a statement saying the U.S. was not boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics. On Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Sharkey again clarified the U.S. position on the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Sachs said, “Our position on the 2022 Winter Olympics has not changed. The United States has not previously discussed, and is not discussing with our allies and partners, a joint boycott. Of course we have discussions with our allies about how to define topics that are of concern to all of us and to establish a common approach. But there are no discussions at this time that have changed our plans for the Beijing Winter Olympics.”
Asked if she was concerned about U.S. athletes and people coming to China to attend and visit the Winter Olympics amid the raging New Crown epidemic, Sachs said the Winter Olympics are next winter, when the epidemic will probably be different.
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