Tai Confirmed as USTR With Unanimous Senate OK
Tech and creative industries universally hailed Senate confirmation Wednesday of China and trade expert Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative by a 98-0 vote. Tai inherits the USTR post as three rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods remain at 25%,…
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over the concerns of tech and telecom stakeholders. Overhauling the tariff exclusions to give the process more “transparency and predictability” would be “very high on my radar,” Tai told her Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Feb. 25. The levies “disrupted a lot of people’s lives and livelihoods,” she said. BSA|The Software Alliance urges Tai to “promote digital trade policies that facilitate the responsible transfer of data across borders,” said CEO Victoria Espinel. During Tai’s time as lead trade counsel for House Ways and Means, she played “an instrumental role” in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, said TechNet: USMCA “included strong intellectual property protections and a landmark digital chapter that eliminated digital trade barriers and enhanced trade.” MPA CEO Charles Rivkin said Tai “fully appreciates that securing robust copyright protections overseas is fundamental to developing a worker-centric trade policy.” CTA (here), the Information Technology Industry Council (here), the Telecommunications Industry Association (here) and others also commented.