Toward a Worker-Centered China policy: How to Make U.S.-China Trade Help Americans and the World
WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT BELOW
The Trump administration’s trade war with China has cost American workers at least 245,000 jobs, cost American consumers tens of billions of dollars for increased prices on consumer goods, and cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars to fund aid to farmers harmed by retaliatory tariffs. Efforts over the past year by Trump administration officials to sanction a wide range of Chinese companies and choke off Chinese travel and student visas to the United States have further undermined U.S.-China economic and cultural exchange. This hostile confrontation has contributed to an overall shift toward more adversarial U.S. relations with China.
President Biden and several of his top advisers have criticized the U.S.-China trade war as ineffective and harmful, stating that they will instead promote a “worker-centered” trade policy. But it remains unclear precisely how this will translate to U.S. economic policy toward China. Building on the recommendations in a recent Quincy Institute report on a more effective U.S. strategy in East Asia, this event will bring together representatives from the progressive labor community and the business community to discuss ideas for how the United States can develop a better trade policy toward China that will help average American workers and consumers, while also promoting a more constructive overall U.S.-China relationship that bolsters global peace and prosperity instead of undermining it.
The discussion will feature Rachel Esplin Odell, research fellow at the Quincy Institute; Anna Ashton, vice president of government affairs at the U.S.-China Business Council; and Jake Werner, research fellow at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center. Graham Webster, research scholar at DigiChina, will moderate.