March 17, 2021

Veteran government trader lawyer Katherine Tai was unanimously confirmed by the Senate Wednesday, becoming the first woman of color to serve as the U.S. Trade Representative.  
 
As chief Democratic trade lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee since 2014, Tai played a key role negotiating tenets of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) between the Trump Administration and the Democratic-led House.
 
A Yale- and Harvard-educated daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Tai joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in 2007, where she rose to become chief counsel for China enforcement in 2011.
 
Her 98-0 confirmation as the top U.S. trade negotiator under the Biden administration, which reflects support from pro-labor Democrats, traditional free-trade Republicans and China hawks from both parties, will put her to work enforcing trade deals, confronting China’s trade practices and patching up ties with U.S. allies.
 
She is expected to start work immediately monitoring China’s compliance with rules of a “Phase 1” trade agreement with the United States, festering disputes with European countries over aircraft subsidies and digital-services taxes, and enforcing USMCA’s new labor rights provisions.
 
Tai, 47, will be the first woman of color and Asian American to hold the Cabinet-level position.
 
Some information for this report came from Reuters.

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