The Archive — 2021
2021: the managed simmer
A quiet year on tariffs, a loud one underneath. The tariffs were kept, a strategy of "re-stacking" was announced, and bilateral trade rebounded to near-record $655.6 billion — proof the relationship had stabilized at a managed-simmer rather than a boil.
Investment Blacklist Expanded
A new executive order replaces and broadens the ban on U.S. investment in companies tied to Chinese military and surveillance technology. The list will grow to include major telecoms, chipmakers and aerospace firms over the following years.
USTR Outlines New China Strategy
Trade Representative Katherine Tai says the administration will keep the Section 301 tariffs in place while reopening a targeted exclusion process and pursuing "re-stacking" the relationship around U.S. strengths. The tariffs, now three years old, outlive their author's administration.