In early March, the Biden administration released its 2021 trade agenda along with its trade report from 2020. Following a year where international trade saw unprecedented setbacks from a global pandemic, the Biden Administration’s Trade Agenda offered a glimpse of what is to come as the world returns to normal. On the campaign trail, President Biden was often critical of President Trump’s trade policy. However, despite the partisan divide, Biden and Trump’s trade agendas have shared certain elements.
Rhetoric on Trade
Both administrations also emphasized rebuilding infrastructure, labor rights and farmers. Biden’s first trade agenda states: “market opportunities reap the greatest economic benefits when they are pursued in alignment with the interests of American workers and innovators, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, fishers, and underserved communities. Under the Biden Administration, trade policy will encourage domestic investment and innovation and increase economic security for American families, including through combatting unfair practices by our trading partners.” Trump’s first trade agenda had similar themes: “we reject the notion that the United States should, for putative geopolitical advantage, turn a blind eye to unfair trade practices that disadvantage American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses in global markets.” When it comes to American manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers, the rhetoric from the two administrations is strikingly similar. The Trump administration prioritized American farmers through the negotiation of the USMCA agreement and the Biden administration has already affirmed that they will make sure the USMCA agreement continues to deliver on its promise to help U.S. farmers.
Manufacturing Tariffs
Although President Biden critiqued Trump’s trade policy towards China, he has been reluctant to remove the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The metal tariffs were intended to aid American manufacturing companies trying to compete with cheap foreign imports mainly from China. Steel industry groups and newly Biden appointed Chief of Commerce Gina Raimondo lauded the previous administration’s tariffs as “effective”. Given the Rust Belt’s history of swinging presidential elections it might not come as a surprise that the Biden administration is prioritizing manufacturing workers in international trade policy.
Diverging Values and Philosophy
The philosophical differences between the two administrations can be seen in their attitudes towards trade alliances and governing bodies. The Trump administration showed preference towards bilateral trade negotiations, or trade negotiations where the U.S. engaged in talks with each country individually rather than sweeping trade agreements between multiple countries. Under President Trump, the US withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Vietnam, Peru, Chile, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. The administration was also hostile towards the World Trade Organization. The Biden administration, on the other hand, has signaled multilateralism, in which agreements are made between three or more parties, as its preferred method of international trade policy to strengthen the American middle class. Biden plans to attempt to re-enter some of the international agreements that the Trump administration withdrew from and provide more support to the WTO.
The Biden Administration’s trade 2021 trade policy agenda aims to use trade policy to impact climate change. The 2021 Biden trade policy agenda references incorporating climate change reducing initiatives into trade agreements 13 times, while the Trump administration’s 2017 trade agenda never mentions it. Biden plans to emphasise climate change through carbon border adjustments. The Biden administration also highlighted their plan to use trade policy to aid “disadvantaged communities” and “Communities of color”, which was not a point of emphasis in the Trump trade policy agenda.
