I'm looking forward to engaging with China: USTR Katherine Tai

CNBC's Kayla Tausche joins Power Lunch to report on her conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai about tariffs on Chinese goods and trade policy overall. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai slammed China’s unfair trade practices and vowed to protect U.S. economic interests in a speech Monday, adding that the Biden administration will rally allies in order to push back on the world’s second-largest economy.

“Our objective is not to inflame trade tensions with China,” Tai said in an address to an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

“But above all else, we must defend to the hilt our economic interests and that means taking all steps necessary to protect ourselves against the waves of damage inflicted over the years through unfair competition,” said Tai, the nation’s top trade official.

During her address, Tai confirmed a CNBC report last week saying that the Biden administration believed that Beijing has not complied with the phase one trade deal.

According to the deal, which was brokered under then-President Donald Trump and signed in January 2020, Beijing agreed to buy at least $200 billion more in U.S. goods and services over 2020 and 2021, compared with 2017. However, according to U.S. export data compiled by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, China has only reached 62% of that target.

The deal is slated to expire at the end of 2021.

Tai told CNBC’s Kayla Tausche in an exclusive interview on Monday that she was looking forward to leading the negotiations with the Chinese on behalf of the Biden administration, despite seemingly little appetite from Beijing to improve the bilateral relationship.

“Honestly I don’t know if I can trust Beijing until I talk to Beijing,” Tai said of China’s shortcomings on the phase one deal. “We don’t know what we can accomplish until we try,” she added.

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