Biden says he won’t immediately remove Trump’s tariffs on China

President-elect Joe Biden told a New York Times columnist that he won’t immediately remove the Trump administration’s elevated tariffs on China.

Instead, Biden intends to first review the existing U.S.-China agreement, and develop a “coherent strategy” with traditional allies in Europe and Asia, Thomas Friedman wrote following his hour-long phone call with the president-elect on Tuesday night.

“The best China strategy, I think, is one which gets every one of our — or at least what used to be our — allies on the same page. It’s going to be a major priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies,” said Biden, according to Friedman.

Beijing wouldn’t welcome a U.S. that gathers a coalition against China, the columnist wrote.

U.S.-China relations deteriorated under President Donald Trump. The world’s top two economies got into fights over trade and technology in the last few years, which threatened to derail the global economy.

Their tariff fight came to a pause when both sides signed a “phase one” trade deal in January. That temporarily eliminated the threat of further tariff increases but left earlier hikes in trade levies in place.

Biden told Friedman his top priority will be passing another fiscal stimulus package — in line with expectations for him to first focus on tackling domestic issues. But the president-elect also said he’s looking to establish bipartisan consensus at home as a way to build “leverage” over China.

“I want to make sure we’re going to fight like hell by investing in America first,” Biden was quoted as saying, citing research in energy, biotech, advanced materials and artificial intelligence as areas that could use more government investment.

“I’m not going to enter any new trade agreement with anybody until we have made major investments here at home and in our workers” and in education, he added.

For more on Biden’s plans for his upcoming presidency, read Friedman’s full column in the New York Times.