To Counter China US Trade Rep Seeks Closer Ties to Allies

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is pressing its case for a new approach to global trade, arguing that America’s traditional reliance on promoting free trade pacts failed to anticipate China’s brass-knuckled brand of capitalism and the possibility a major power like Russia would go to war against one of its trading partners. In a speech Wednesday at American University, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai called for a strategy of what’s known as ‘friend-shoring” – building up supply chains among allied countries and reducing dependence on geopolitical rivals such as China. Rising tension with Beijing and supply-chain bottlenecks arising from the…