Wyden Says Rapid Response Mechanism Should Be Part of Future Trade Agreements
Incoming Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told reporters on a Jan. 13 conference call that he's going to work closely with the Joe Biden administration to make sure the rapid response labor mechanism is used against Mexico, and he wants similar provisions to be used with other countries. Wyden, who emphasized unemployment relief, infrastructure, drug pricing, taxes and fighting greenhouse gas emissions ahead of trade, said that he's very impressed with the choice of Katherine Tai for U.S. trade representative, and said he hopes to have a Finance Committee hearing on her nomination “very soon.”
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“Trade enforcement in particular is a critical component of the President’s strategy of building back better,” he said, echoing Biden's campaign slogan.
Even though Wyden barely touched on trade during the call, he noted that one in four Oregon jobs is dependent on international trade, and those jobs generally pay more than those that do not. He said that the tariffs on Chinese goods haven't been “enough to stop China’s rampant trade cheating, and Donald Trump proved that.” He said that Tai should be able to bring allies together on a unified strategy on China, to confront China's intellectual property theft, subsidies and “overcapacity in critical sectors.”