Leading economist Stephen Roach said he found it “very curious” that US President Joe Biden had enforced much of his predecessor’s policies on China.
Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University, said Biden maintained the “severely flawed” trade deal between the United States and China and tariffs on China, but reversed many other policies introduced by former President Donald Trump.
“Why did he single out the China-Trump policy as one worth maintaining, when he was literally trying to clean up the mess of every other potential Trump policy he inherited? This is an important question that answers must be, “Roach said. told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.
During Trump’s term, the US and China engaged in a trade war that threatened to derail the world economy after both parties struck retaliatory tariffs on each other’s products. The Phase 1 trade agreement disrupted the trade battle, but did not reverse the increased tariffs.
Rising tensions between America and China
Relations between the US and China made a stormy start under Biden’s rule.
Last month, the two countries’ first high-level meeting began with an exchange of insults, and the US – along with a number of its Western allies – slammed sanctions against Chinese officials and entities for human rights violations in the Xinjiang region .
Beijing has retaliated with its own sanctions against the US and its allies.
Roach, who was a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, said he was “very concerned” about the growing rhetoric between the US and China.
“The situation is going from bad to worse and it does not have to do that,” he said. “We need a more equal approach from the American side as well as the Chinese side to go back to the areas we have in common.”