China

Biden pledges to pursue a trade and economic agenda that will protect ‘our intellectual prosperity’

Published

3 years ago

December 28, 2020

Screen Shot 2020 12 28 at 5.54.13 PM scaled

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday said that he would pursue a trade and economic agenda that protects the United States’ “intellectual prosperity” regarding controversies with China’s repeated violations of U.S. intellectual property in commerce and trade.

At Monday’s televised presidential transition briefing, Biden said that the United States should embrace its “democratic partners” around the world in order to increase the nation’s economic leverage.

“In defense of our shared interest and our shared values, we make up 25%—almost 25%—of the entire economy of the world,” he said. “But together with our democratic partners, we more than double our economic leverage.”

Biden then went more in depth regarding a range of broad issues, ultimately saying that the U.S. is stronger when it works with its allies.

“On any issue that matters to the U.S. and China relationship: from pursuing a foreign policy to the middle class; including a trade and economic agenda that produces and protects American workers, our intellectual prosperity, and the environment; to ensuring the security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region; to championing human rights; we’re stronger and more effective when we’re flanked by nations that share our vision and the future of our world,” the president-elect said. “That’s how we multiply the impact of our efforts, and make those efforts more sustainable.”

Joe Biden says he will pursue a trade and economic agenda that protects "our intellectual prosperity" pic.twitter.com/PsCHNmHbM7
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 28, 2020

You can follow Douglas Braff on Twitter @Douglas_P_Braff.

China

Biden to lift sanctions on China in exchange for third promise to combat fentanyl

Published

3 weeks ago

November 15, 2023

Sara Carter Staff

Reportedly President Joe Biden is making deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help improve anti-drug trafficking measures. China is one of the top fentanyl producers and distributors, culminating in a pandemic of fentanyl overdoses and deaths in the United States.

The Biden administration will be lifting sanctions on a Chinese government ministry, in exchange for bolstering anti-drug trafficking measures, Bloomberg reported. “We’re hoping to see some progress on that issue this coming week,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday, according to the New York Post. “That could then open the door to further cooperation on other issues where we aren’t just managing things, but we’re actually delivering tangible results.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation noted that should a deal materialize, it will be at least the third time that China has promised to get tough on fentanyl. In 2016, China agreed to increase counter-narcotics operations, and Xi again agreed to launch a crackdown in 2018. Nonetheless, China and Mexico are “the primary source countries for fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked directly into the United States,” according to a 2020 DEA intelligence report.

“China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States.”

President Joe Biden and Xi are meeting for the first time in over a year during this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco. Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will crack down on Chinese companies manufacturing chemical precursors for fentanyl in exchange for the U.S. lifting sanctions on the Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science, which the Commerce Department added to the Entity List in 2020 for “engaging in human rights violations and abuses” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.