Jamieson Greer of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said on the 22nd (local time) that the U.S.-China summit set for late March to early April will proceed successfully. He said the U.S. negotiating position has not weakened even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff was unlawful. USTR is the agency that oversees U.S. foreign trade policy.
Greer said in an interview with Fox News the same day, "The U.S.-China talks will proceed as scheduled and will be very successful." He drew a line under concerns that the U.S. negotiating position with China had weakened after a ruling that reciprocal tariffs were unlawful.
Greer said, "We have imposed tariffs on China since 2018, and the current average tariff rate on China is about 40%," adding, "We also have other tools we can use if needed." He added, "The point is not to try to fight with China," and, "It is to secure stability for soybean growers (in the United States), for those selling aircraft and medical devices (to China), and for those seeking to import goods that cannot be obtained anywhere other than China."
On the goals of the U.S.-China summit, Greer said, "First, we want to confirm that China is continuing to purchase the goods it promised and is complying with its obligations under the agreement, such as continuing to supply us with rare earths." He added, "This meeting will proceed in terms of maintaining stability, monitoring implementation of the agreement, and building relationships for the future."
In an interview with ABC, Greer again stressed that steps such as President Trump's newly proposed "15% global tariff" under Section 122 of the Trade Act and the start of an investigation under Section 301 following the ruling that the reciprocal tariff was unlawful will "not have a material impact" on the upcoming U.S.-China summit.
Regarding the Section 301 investigation, Greer said, "We have initiated investigations into Brazil and China," adding, "We also plan to start a probe into excess production capacity." He argued, "Several Asian countries with excess production capacity are not following basic economic principles—simply building factories and maintaining employment—and are collapsing prices globally." He added, "We are looking into overseas rice markets that, through unfair trade practices and massive subsidies, are killing U.S. rice farmers."
Greer said that while the new tools for imposing tariffs are not as flexible as reciprocal tariffs, "President Trump has given us very solid tools and provides protection for American industry." Citing Section 301 of the Trade Act and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, he said, "Through these other tariff authorities, we can reconstruct our share of the deal."
Appearing on CBS, Greer said of the new trade agreements the United States has concluded, "We will keep those agreements," adding, "We expect our partners to keep them as well. No one has said yet that an agreement has been broken."