U.S. President-elect Joe Biden should keep pressing China to stick to the phase one trade deal and use tariffs as leverage, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said, adding that Beijing has done a "reasonably good job" at implementing parts of the deal.

In a rare interview late on Tuesday, Lighthizer defended the Donald Trump administration's record in shredding the status quo on trade and imposing unilateral tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Beijing signed the phase one trade deal nearly a year ago after months of tariffs, promising to boost purchases of U.S. agricultural and manufactured goods, energy and services by $200 billion above 2017 levels over two years.