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Biden Administration International Affairs Personnel Tracker

Katherine Tai

US Trade Representative

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Katherine Tai has been the U.S. Trade Representative since March 17, 2021. Before that, Tai served as the chief trade counsel for the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. From 2007 to 2014, Tai served in the Trade Representative’s Office of General Counsel, becoming chief counsel for China trade enforcement from 2011 until her departure. During her time at the office, Tai handled enforcement of cases filed against China with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Tai is currently the Democratic chief trade counsel to the House Committee on Ways and Means. She served as the staff lead on the Trans-Pacific Partnership while working for Democrats on committee. Tai is a fluent Mandarin speaker and taught English for two years at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou in the late 1990s.

Views On China

During the confirmation, Tai called China “simultaneously a rival, a trade partner, and an outsized player whose cooperation we’ll also need to address certain global challenges.” Tai is believed to be entirely comfortable in aggressively confronting China when needed. According to former Trump trade negotiator Clete Willems, Tai “is not a pushover and is going to have the ability to stand up for U.S. interests against countries like China” and will “help carry on a tough line on China.”

According to an Intellisia report, comments by Tai and others suggest that the Biden administration will pressure China to abide by international trade rules. This report has circulated in Chinese President Xi’s inner circle. 

Tai has said that China should be addressed forcefully and strategically. She has also publicly acknowledged that the Trump administration “has not been 100% wrong on trade policies.” She also noted that the Trump administration’s trade policy against China is more defensive — a reaction to Beijing’s longtime practices such as forced technology transfer and state subsidies. “I think the offense has got to be about [making] ourselves and our workers and our industries and our allies faster, nimbler, be able to jump higher, be able to compete stronger, and ultimately be able to defend this open democratic way of life that we have.”

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Page Last Updated: January 14, 2022

*None of the personnel in this tracker are associated with the Institute for China-America Studies. All images used on this page are sourced from the official Biden-Harris transition website buildbackbetter.gov or the public domain.*