Biden to name Hill staffer Katherine Tai for top trade job

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate House Ways and Means Committee trade lawyer Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative, according to two people familiar with the decision.

Biden’s pick will be responsible for repairing economic ties with allies chastened by outgoing President Donald Trump’s trade wars while fulfilling his campaign pledge to stay tough on China.

As POLITICO reported last month, Democratic trade leaders in Congress coalesced around Tai soon after the election, regarding her as a skilled negotiator who has the experience to fulfill that goal.

Her position was strengthened by Democrats' thin five-vote majority in the House. That made pulling out a member to serve in the White House more difficult, particularly after Biden earlier this week settled on Rep. Marcia Fudge to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

If confirmed, Tai would be the first woman of color and first Asian American to hold the role of top U.S. trade negotiator. The post is a Cabinet-level position within the Executive Office of the President.

California Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D) was also considered for the USTR job and had conversations with the Biden transition about the role in May, according to a person close to his office.

Tai recommended the lawmaker, among other names, to the transition as a potential USTR in the spring.

The Biden transition declined to comment.

A former China enforcement head at USTR who is fluent in Mandarin, Tai has expertise that can help the U.S. confront Beijing on issues like forced labor and intellectual property rights while preserving a functioning trade relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

Lawmakers in both chambers were impressed by Tai’s handling of the negotiations in Congress with the Trump administration over changes sought to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal that replaced NAFTA. Her supporters say tough labor and environmental standards that she pushed to include in that pact could serve as a model for when the Biden team negotiates with reluctant countries for other trade deals.

Crucially for Biden, both labor and big business groups in Washington have privately signaled their openness to Tai as the nominee. Democratic supporters say she could garner bipartisan support in the Senate. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who is expected to lead the Finance Committee if the GOP retains control of the chamber, did not respond to a request for comment on her potential nomination.

Tai will have to decide whether to continue trade talks with the U.K. and Kenya started by Trump’s trade chief, Robert Lighthizer. She’ll also have to weigh whether to lift hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tariffs on metals and consumer goods that Trump imposed on China and allies like the European Union.

Domestic industries and foreign governments stung by the trade war are already pressuring the Biden transition for tariff relief. But the president-elect has said new trade talks will take a back seat to securing domestic stimulus. He has also said that he wants to review Trump’s trade policies on China before lifting duties.

Biden has promised to bolster the “Buy American” program that directs federal agencies to source products from domestic suppliers. That could upset allies in Europe just as the White House asks them to help confront China and abandon proposed taxes on American internet firms like Amazon and Google.

Tai’s backers say she has the skills to navigate those tense waters, with Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) calling her an “inspired choice.”

“Ms. Tai has the experience she needs to succeed as USTR, and her record of getting wins for American workers demonstrates she knows how to champion the values that matter to U.S. families,” he said in a release. “She worked closely with me and my staff to craft the strongest ever protections for American workers in a trade agreement, and pass them into law with bipartisan support.”

Tai’s career at USTR began in 2007 as an associate general counsel. In 2014, she was named chief counsel for China trade enforcement, overseeing disputes between Washington and Beijing at the World Trade Organization. She left that role in 2014 to join House Ways and Means and in 2017 was named chief trade lawyer for Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.).

Before her USTR career, Tai worked at a handful of law firms including Baker & McKenzie and Miller & Chevalier. She clerked for U.S. District Courts in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. Born in Connecticut and raised in Washington, D.C., she is a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School. She also taught English for two years in China.

Tai’s experience on the Hill may also prove useful when a major bill, the Trade Promotion Authority, will expire next summer, setting up a possible legislative fight.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, the head of the House Ways and Means trade panel, has said he may consider pushing major changes to White House negotiating authority under that law after many Democrats thought Trump abused it.

Tai’s nomination could hamstring some year-end trade issues that Democrats want to accomplish. She’s currently leading negotiations for the Ways and Means Committee on Blumenauer’s last-minute bill to amend the Generalized System of Preferences, a trade program for developing nations, which expires at the end of the year.