Asia

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) says he plans to push the incoming Biden administration toward a free trade agreement with Taiwan.

The Biden administration should focus on restoring Washington’s presence in the multilateral trading system after economic issues stemming from COVID-19 are addressed, Joshua Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable, said this week.

The Policy Planning Staff writes that the U.S. must “work with friends and partners to reconfigure supply chains to eliminate dependence on China for critical materials and goods.”

After a cluster of nations in the Asia-Pacific region inked a trade deal over the weekend, President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said the U.S. should be focused on setting the “rules of the road” rather than sitting on the sidelines.

A 2012 meeting with Xi Jinping (when both were VPs), and more from the president-elect’s trade past.

As the European Union undertakes its transition to more sustainable agriculture – including ambitious targets on reducing pesticide, fertilizer and antimicrobial use – the bloc is trying to ease the increasing consternation of Trump administration officials by insisting its goal is global cooperation, not domination, on sustainability.

The U.S. is relying on incomplete information in its analysis of Vietnam’s currency practices, according to the chief economist of the state-owned Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam.

Members called the deal an “important confidence-building exercise” as the EU and China discuss a bilateral investment agreement.

China’s State Council on Monday issued guidelines on how to boost foreign trade, instructing all state agencies to use an increased focus on domestic innovation to boost exports of high-tech products while stabilizing supply chains in China.