The Biden administration is weighing a new investigation into Chinese subsidies and their damage to the U.S. economy as a way to pressure Beijing on trade, people familiar with the matter said.
Top Biden economic advisers, including U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, were meeting Friday afternoon to discuss the potential probe, the people said. They also will discuss the January 2020 trade deal reached under President Donald Trump and enforcement options along with a path forward for roughly $300 billion in tariffs imposed on Chinese imports, the people said on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
USTR has asked outside consultants to help quantify the damage from Chinese subsidies in order to measure the kind of response that’s appropriate should the investigation proceed, two of the people said. A U.S. official said that no formal request has been made.