OPINION: The Phase One trade agreement contained no real mechanism for enforcing the global trading rules. It’s time for the U.S. to abandon the deal, global trade attorney Neena Shenai writes.
Among the abject failures of U.S. foreign policy in recent years, a notable one is the so-called U.S.-China Phase One trade deal, which quietly expired on the last day of 2021. Perplexingly, it appears the new administration is still trying to convince China to meet its commitments even though the flawed deal has expired.
It was not structured to yield the massive structural changes needed in China’s trading posture with the U.S. and the world, nor in its economic model. In fact, China was given the luxury of reaffirming prior commitments such as intellectual property and forced technology transfer, of which China in the end barely met 60% overall.
With all the initial hype around the deal by the Trump administration and the Biden administration’s subsequent embrace of the deal, why did neither Trump nor Biden enforce it? Because the deal contained no real mechanism for enforcement and China held all the leverage. One year in, the Biden administration remains unable to articulate a coherent China policy and its trade policy is hamstrung by U.S. political dynamics. Only recently have U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and others in the current administration mentioned holding China to the deal.
The only way that the U.S. can emerge from this situation with grace and gain leverage with China and other trading partners is by having an actual global trade strategy.
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