Collaboration, not tug of war, key to trade ties: America’s Katherine Tai

On China’s aggressive economic policies, Tai batted for creating a “new version of globalisation” as many countries were facing the consequences of “over reliance on a single source”, which has created a special awareness on building resilient supply chains. “I think it’s a lesson to all of us on how we can work together to make a new version of globalisation that’s going to be resilient and durable,” she said.

On possibility of free trade agreement with India, she said the US was refashioning its approach to a more worker-centric model. “US trade policy has become disconnected from people. There’s a significant trust gap with workers, citizens. We need to ground our trade policy in the reality of people so that we can build back support to become strong reliable partners for trade.”

Tai indicated that while it’s still work in progress, the US may be looking at labour and environmental standards.

‘Need to Focus on Creative Solutions’

“It is a conversation where we do look at workers’ provisions, environment provisions but I want to make it clear it’s not limited to that,” Tai said.

At the same time, she stressed the need to forge an innovative trade relationship with India. “We will talk to and listen to India, put ourselves into a more collaborative posture where we can respect each other’s sensitivities, political requirements and look to build something together.”

Tai, who made certain India was included in her first visit to Asia which covered Japan and Korea, identified digital trade as a potential area where new approaches could be developed.

“This is an area where there’s an opportunity to learn lessons from the past and apply them. It’s a ripe opportunity for governments that share values like democracies to work together. How do we take into account the needs of just the economic actors, service suppliers but also consumers, content creators and workers? They also have rights like privacy for example. Privacy is a great example where countries are working on ways to regulate, create rules, manage differences, evolve approaches.”

When asked regarding US concerns on India’s ecommerce rules, the USTR said both sides needed to find creative solutions. “We need to have more productive ways of engaging and communicating with each other as governments. I think in traditional ways when we come to trade issues, it very easily breaks down into a feeling that we are in a tug of war or a zero sum game. There is a way for us to approach such issues by understanding each and being creative in formulating solutions.”

Besides this, Tai batted for reforms in the World Trade Organization, which is due to have its ministerial meeting soon. “The WTO is absolutely relevant. It represents a set of rules, structure that allows us to talk to each other. But the WTO needs reform. We will look to energise the membership to come together and discuss how to bring the reform we all want.”