March 28, 2024

Biden’s Commerce Pick Vows to Combat China and Climate Change

“There’s chatter in Washington that the Biden administration is contemplating going easy on China and removing companies from the entities list,” Mr. Cruz said during the hearing. “I certainly hope that does not happen because I think that would be profoundly contrary to the national security interest of the United States.”

In a tweet on Tuesday, Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, said removing Huawei from the entity list would be a mistake, given the company’s links to the Chinese military and the threat it poses to American security.

“It’s remarkable and frankly disturbing that Ms. Raimondo can’t commit to keeping #Huawei on the Entity List,” he said. “I strongly urge her to reconsider.”

Ms. Raimondo also appeared to walk a careful line on the steel and aluminum tariffs that President Donald J. Trump levied on foreign countries, including many in Europe.

She declined to say whether the Biden administration would remove or change the metal tariffs, instead committing it to carrying out a broad review of trade policies in consultation with its allies and pursuing uncompetitive trade behavior from China. She also pledged to ensure that the process that allows certain companies to avoid the steel and aluminum tariffs — which faced criticism during the Trump administration for being complicated and arbitrary — was swift, fair and objective.

In a sign of how broad a portfolio she would be overseeing, Ms. Raimondo vowed to focus on a wide range of other issues, including promoting the country’s capacity in advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain and 5G telecommunications, and making broadband access, particularly in rural areas and tribal lands, “a very top priority the minute I get into the job.”

She described internet access as a “necessity” in the pandemic, pointing to how it allows children to take online classes, patients to visit with their doctors and people to sign up to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/business/economy/gina-raimondo-commerce.html

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