On March 1, 2022, Ambassador Katherine Tai and the Office of the United States Trade
Representative delivered President Biden’s 2022 Trade Policy Agenda and 2021 Annual Report to Congress. This report details USTR’s work to implement the Biden Administration’s
trade priorities and advanc a worker-centered trade policy.
Over the last year, Ambassador Tai and USTR, working with partners across the Biden Administration, have pursued a new approach to trade policy that empowers workers, defends their rights, and stops the global race-to-the-bottom. By reaching new and historic agreements with our allies, Ambassador Tai and USTR have revitalized important global partnerships and built coalitions around shared priorities and values.
Key elements of the 2022 Trade Policy Agenda and 2021 Annual Report include:
Standing up for Workers’ Rights: The Biden Administration’s worker-centered trade policy
reflects our commitment to use our trade agreements, tools, and relationships to empower
workers. We are working with our trading partners to support workers’ rights and stop the
global race to the bottom. We will seek to establish new, high-standard commitments on labor
rights under our current and new frameworks for trade. Strengthening labor rights will benefit
American workers, as well as workers all over the world.
Accelerating Decarbonization and Promoting Sustainable Environmental
Practices: Combating the climate crisis and promoting sustainable environmental practices are
top priorities for the Biden Administration. For many years, trade has been seen as exacerbating
these challenges. The same dynamic that has created a race to the bottom with respect to labor
rights exists with respect to environmental protection.
Supporting U.S. Agriculture: The Biden Administration understands the importance of
trade to U.S. farmers, ranchers, fishers, and food manufacturers. From 2000 to 2020, annual
U.S. agricultural exports grew from $58 billion to $155 billion. Through our commitment to
creating sustainable economic growth and establishing a level playing field, USTR is preserving
and building on those gains. The Biden Administration is also focused on creating new
opportunities for American agriculture, including using our existing Free Trade Agreements
(FTAs) and Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) to support U.S. agriculture
exports.
Bolstering Supply Chain Resiliency: Bolstering supply chain resiliency is a critical
component of the Biden Administration’s efforts to advance our worker-centered trade policy
and create sustainable economic growth. Supply chains are integral to the global trading system,
and the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated disruption to the global economy have
highlighted major vulnerabilities in our existing supply chains, as well as underscored the
importance of promoting supply chain resiliency.
To begin addressing these challenges, President Biden signed Executive Order 14017 (America’s
Supply Chains) last year, directing a whole-of-government approach to assess vulnerabilities in,
and strengthen the resilience of, critical U.S. supply chains. Pursuant to the Executive Order, the
Biden Administration conducted a 100-day review for four priority product areas:
semiconductors, large capacity batteries, critical minerals and materials, and pharmaceuticals
and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Following the recommendations that emerged from the 100-day reports, the Biden
Administration established an interagency Supply Chain Trade Task Force led by USTR. This
task force is directed to identify both unfair foreign trade practices that have eroded U.S. critical
supply chains and opportunities to use U.S. trade agreements and future trade agreements to
strengthen the collective supply chain resilience of the United States and our trade partners.
Combatting the COVID-19 Pandemic: Consistent with our trade policy agenda that
recognizes that people are the core of our economy, USTR is working closely with a number of
agencies to ensure that trade rules support, and do not impede, the global response to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden Administration is taking a whole-of-government approach to
address the pandemic, at home and abroad. These efforts include COVID-19 vaccine donations
through COVAX and other fora, investment in vaccine production and delivery infrastructure in
underserved regions, and working with trading partners to identify obstacles and solutions –
including through supporting a waiver of intellectual property protections for COVID-19
vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as measures to facilitate the flow of
goods necessary to fight the pandemic.
Re-Aligning the U.S.-China Trade Relationship: The U.S.-China economic and trade
relationship is one of profound consequence. As the two largest economies in the world, the
bilateral relationship affects not just the two participants, but the entire globe.
The Biden Administration acknowledges that this relationship is complex and competitive. With
respect to trade, we can be both partners and competitors, but any competition must be fair.
China’s approach to trade drives frictions in many of China’s trade relationships – not just ours.
China, as a large, non-market economy, is uniquely able to engage in unfair, anticompetitive
practices, which harm workers and businesses in the United States and in other countries,
including some of our closest allies and partners. By unduly concentrating production of certain
goods in China, these non-market practices also undermine supply chain resilience and harm
consumers that, in the long run, are deprived of the innovation and choice that fair competition
would produce.
Engaging with Key Trading Partners and Multilateral Institutions: Growing the
middle glass, redressing inequality, and incentivizing climate and environmental action are
goals we share with many of our trading partners. Working with others to craft trade policies
that promote these goals reflects the American leadership that many of our trading partners are
seeking. The Biden Administration is meeting the challenge.
Using trade policy as a tool to achieve these shared goals, USTR is stepping up its engagement
with partners, allies, multilateral institutions and organizations. These actors and institutions
play a pivotal role in cultivating any meaningful outcomes to address shared concerns. But to
achieve a more resilient and just global economy, reform is necessary. The policies of the past
contributed to contemporary challenges; we need different policies to achieve a different
outcome.
Promoting Confidence in Trade Policy Through Enforcement: The Biden
Administration is committed to vigorously enforcing our trade agreements as a critical element
of pushing a global race to the top. Enforcement is a key component of our worker-centered
trade policy agenda. We are using all of the tools at our disposal to combat unfair economic
practices, defend American jobs, and create broad-based economic prosperity. American
workers and businesses can compete with anyone when the playing field is level and
competition is fair, and trade policy is an indispensable tool in achieving those goals. We are
shaping a global trading system that enforces labor and environmental standards, protects
intellectual property rights, and ensures that regulations are science-based and predictable.
Broad Engagement with Stakeholders to Facilitate Inclusive, Durable Trade Policy
and Promote Equity: The Biden Administration is committed to thorough engagement as we
develop and implement the President’s trade policy agenda. Inclusive engagement is a key
component to ensuring that our policies are durable and equitable, as we recognize that a
common shortfall of previous trade policy decisions is a failure to engage with communities that
will be affected by those decisions. As such, the Biden Administration will continue to give all
stakeholders a seat at the table as we evaluate and make these decisions.