Biden campaign vs. Biden administration: on Free Trade


Joe Biden: Ban trade from Xinjiang; plus diplomatic boycott of Olympics

President Biden signed a new law banning products made in China's Xinjiang region because of China's oppression of its largely Muslim Uighur minority population. The law imposes a near-blanket ban on the import to the US of goods by requiring suppliers to first prove their products were not made with forced labour. Xinjiang is a large supplier of cotton and solar panels.

UN experts have estimated that more than one million people, mainly Uighurs, have been imprisoned in recent years in a vast system of camps in Xinjiang. The US and many rights groups have called it "genocide".

The US cited the situation in Xinjiang in a decision earlier this month to launch a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Biden administration also imposed trade sanctions last week on several Chinese companies, accusing the government in Beijing of advancing high-tech surveillance on the Uighurs. [See H.R. 6256 for details of bill]

Source: Al Jazeera "Xinjiang" on 2021 Biden Administration Dec 23, 2021

Antony Blinken: Focus must be trade policies benefiting all Americans

Some of us previously argued for free trade agreements because we believed Americans would broadly share in the economic gains that those--and that those deals would shape the global economy in ways that we wanted. We didn't do enough to understand who would be negatively affected. Our trade policies will need to answer very clearly how they will grow the American middle class, create new and better jobs, and benefit all Americans, not only those for whom the economy is already working.
Source: State Department speech: 2021 Biden Administration Mar 3, 2021

Joe Biden: Reinstate Trump's 10% tariffs on aluminum from UAE

In one of his first trade actions, President Joe Biden reinstated a 10% duty on aluminum imports from the United Arab Emirates that Pres. Trump removed just one day before leaving office. "I consider it is necessary and appropriate in light of our national security interests to maintain, at this time, the tariff treatment applied to aluminum article imports from the United Arab Emirates," Biden said.

Why Biden acted: "The available evidence indicates that imports from the UAE may still displace domestic production, and thereby threaten to impair our national security," Biden stated. Biden noted that US importers can apply for a waiver from tariffs on products not available from domestic suppliers. "Tellingly, there have been 33 such exclusion requests for aluminum imported from the UAE, and the Secretary of Commerce has denied 32 of those requests," Biden said. "This indicates the large degree of overlap between imports from the UAE and what our domestic industry is capable of producing."

Source: Politico.com e-zine on 2021 Biden Administration Feb 1, 2021

  • The above quotations are from Campaign promises compared to follow-up actions taken by the Biden Administration.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Free Trade.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Joe Biden on Free Trade.
  • Click here for more quotes by Kamala Harris on Free Trade.
2020 Presidential contenders on Free Trade:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Jan 17, 2022