The US Trade Relations with China: Worrisome Developments in the US Law

Abstract

As the Biden administration succeeded President Trump’s chaotic and undisciplined trade and investment policies toward China, the last six months of 2022 have seen significant developments in the US trade law and economic policy toward China. These legislative and regulatory developments bring into sharper focus a broader and more aggressive US legal and regulatory structure fostering industrial policy and confronting China. The recent midterm elections in the US and meeting in Bali between Xi and Biden only seem to maintain the current unsettling state of affairs. The subsequent WTO panel decision against the United States concerning its Section 232 national security tariffs and its rejection of national security defense only further complicates the US-China trade relations. The legislative and regulatory measures emanating from the US in the last half of 2022 are not helpful and represent a worrisome development. These measures are by far more aggressive, with significant domestic and global implications. They portend a new emerging post-WTO order.