Trump’s China deal is under review: WH
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration has former president Donald Trump’s phase-one trade deal with China “under review” along with the rest of the US posture towards Beijing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.
“Everything that the past administration has put in place is under review,” Psaki said in response to questions about whether President Joe Biden considers Trump’s agreement to still be in effect.
The trade deal Trump signed a year ago was one of his proudest feats until the coronavirus spread from China to the US. After that, then-presidential candidate Biden was able to cast the agreement as a sign Trump was too focused on his own political achievements, even as the world was on the brink of a pandemic.
Under the deal, Beijing agreed to escalate purchases of American agricultural goods and other products in exchange for relief from US tariffs.
Asked again whether the deal was still in effect, Psaki said, “I would not assume that things are moving forward.”
Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China’s crackdown, but Beijing said it would no longer recognise special British passports offered to residents of the former colony.
After UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the special British National Overseas (BNO) passport scheme, China and the Hong Kong government hit back by saying neither will recognise the BNO passport as a valid travel document from January 31. “Britain is trying to turn large numbers of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
Ex-banker executed
The ex-chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co, Lai Xiaomin, was executed on Friday following his conviction on bribery charges by a court in Tianjin. Lai was found guilty in a multiple bribery case.