WASHINGTON – In his nearly four-year term, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer helped protectism move from the core of American policy-making. His advice to the Biden administration: Be it of course.
Keep tariffs on China – even if it raises prices for American businesses and consumers, he said. Weaken the World Trade Organization so that it does not overturn US policies, and make it harder for American companies to move overseas despite the cost of their competition.
In an interview, Mr. L Lighthizer credited the Trump administration for taking a stricter approach towards Chinese business practices that benefited American workers – ending years of housing by previous administrations over fears of Beijing.
“It changed the way we think about China,” Mr. Lighthizer said. “We want a China policy that thinks about geopolitical competition between the United States and an anti-economic subsidiary.”
73-year-old Mr. Lighthizer — tall, gravelly voice, and agile — was the engineer who helped ease the Trump administration’s economic confrontation with China. He turned President Trump’s anger into a two-year trade war in Beijing where he deployed tariffs on a scale not seen since the 1930s.
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