U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Kenya's trade minister, Betty Maina, talked about the bilateral negotiations conducted during the previous administration, according to a readout of the April 1 call. “Ambassador Tai highlighted her ongoing review of the negotiations to ensure that any agreement aligns with the Biden-Harris administration’s Build Back Better agenda,” the summary said. Maina tweeted, “It was a great pleasure to meet with @AmbassadorTai the United States Trade Representative to take stock of our strategic relationship and trade. I welcome the invitation to work together on shaping mutually beneficial trade relations between Africa and the US post [African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)].”

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a video call with Turkey's trade minister, Ruhsar Pekcan. Pekcan apparently brought up Section 232 tariffs on Turkish steel, and according to the U.S. readout, Tai and Pekcan talked about ways to coordinate on “the global overcapacity of steel and aluminum.” Tai also discussed with Pekcan how to coordinate on digital services taxation, and opportunities to increase market access for U.S goods in Turkey and vice versa.

Trade ministers from the G-7 countries told World Trade Organization Director-General Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that they will provide political momentum to the WTO reform debate, during an online meeting March 31. “The multilateral trading system can be a force for good. It has increased competition and economic growth, helped raise living standards, and lifted millions out of poverty. It must serve the needs of all its members and provide the basis for free and fair trade. G7 Trade Ministers recognised that global trade should work for democratic and open-market systems and that these should not be undermined by unfair trade,” the joint statement of the trade ministers said. The United Kingdom hosted the call. The ministers agreed that the WTO needs to strengthen transparency, change the approach to special and differential treatment for developing countries, and reform dispute settlement.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai held a video call with South Africa's Trade Minister Ebrahim Patel on March 30, during which they discussed their interest in improving the World Trade Organization. They talked about how South Africa “has benefited tremendously from its” African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) preferential treatment, and how they should find ways to enhance their trading relationship “to better serve both countries over the long-run,” according to a readout of the call.

Trade policy in regard to China should prioritize technology issues and establish “benchmarks for a phased rollback of Section 301 tariffs,” the Information Technology Industry Council wrote In a 17-page March 30 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai. “Simultaneously, we encourage you to move swiftly on your hearing commitment to ensure a transparent, predictable, and rapid process for tariff exclusions to alleviate the harm to American workers and consumers.”

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai talked with European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager about developing a more positive and productive trade relationship with the European Union. They agreed to work together on shared objectives related to large non-market economies, such as China, and on trade policy support for climate change goals.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will consider how the coup in Myanmar (formerly Burma) might affect that country's eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program, which is currently on hiatus. The USTR made the announcement March 29, and also said that there will be no trade engagement under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement until the return of a democratically elected government. “Reports that the military has targeted Burma’s trade unions and workers for their role in the pro-democracy protests raise serious concerns about worker rights protections,” the notice said. According to USTR data, about 45% of exports from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to the U.S. could be covered by GSP, but the country is not a large user of the program, only exporting $284 million worth of goods under GSP in 2019, according to USTR.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in her first interview since taking office, said that she's hearing from stakeholders who say the additional tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods from China damages the economy, but she's not inclined to remove them without concessions from China. “No negotiator walks away from leverage, right?” she said. “I have heard people say, ‘Please just take these tariffs off,’” Tai told The Wall Street Journal. But “yanking off tariffs,” she warned, could harm the economy unless the change is “communicated in a way so that the actors in the economy can make adjustments.”

Even as the U.S. trade representative said she'd rather an international settlement be reached on how to tax digital services companies, she identified

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing spoke March 26 about the two countries' free trade agreement, and agreed to talk more on digital trade, climate and reform of the World Trade Organization.