A bipartisan pair of US senators want to give US President Joe Biden a new tool in economic competition with China inspired by Beijing’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples, allowing the White House to make agreements outside the normal international trade framework to counter what they term “economic coercion” by US adversaries.
US senators Todd Young and Chris Coons said their bill would allow Biden to increase or reduce tariffs on some goods and speed up support to countries with smaller economies that appear to be targeted by Beijing’s coercive trading practices.
While the US president would be required to consult with the US Congress on decisions, some could be expedited.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Countries like China and Russia are increasingly abusing their economic power to bully smaller countries and punish sovereign political decisions,” Coons said in a joint statement with Young. “This economic coercion hurts these nations, threatens US economic security and undermines the democratic, rules-based international system that has underpinned decades of global growth.”
The bill, which was first introduced before the US midterm elections in November last year, but has been tweaked with updates from the White House and lawmakers, is informed by China’s 2021 restriction on imports of Taiwanese pineapples, one of the nation’s main agricultural products.
The Chinese government cited the risk of an invasive species being transported along with the fruit, but the US and other allies of Taiwan saw it as an attempt to put pressure on the nation.
Prior to the ban, more than 90 percent of Taiwan’s exported pineapples went to China.
In a show of solidarity, Japan stepped up its imports of the fruit, and the US and Canadian representatives promoted the product by posting about it on social media using hashtags such as #FreedomPineapple and #pineapplesolidarity.
“Some foreign adversaries think they can drive a wedge between our allies and partners by using economic intimidation or by harming economies through opaque, informal actions,” Young said in the statement. “By supporting our partners under threat, we protect America’s own national security interests.”
Young, who recently returned from a trip to Taiwan and Japan, called the episode something that his proposed legislation can counter.
The senators “want to empower our president to do a similar sort of thing” to what Japan did, Young said.
The bill would allow “market access, foreign aid or some other form of assistance to countries needing expeditious and narrowly tailored assistance in response to economic coercion,” he said.
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