In this NSI Live podcast addressing the findings and recommendations of the US Congress’s US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Annual Report, partner Giovanna Cinelli, leader of Morgan Lewis’s international trade and national security practice and National Security Institute (NSI) fellow, discussed how the US-China relationship may evolve or stay the same under President-elect Joseph Biden’s administration.
During the interview, Giovanna noted that the cabinet appointees so far have included several individuals who served in the administration of former President Barack Obama or as public servants during earlier administrations, and that the China-related policies they would likely look to advance or implement under a Biden presidency might resemble the policies of those past administrations. “I don’t anticipate that a Biden administration will make any immediate changes, but I do think they’re going to level set and reset some of the approaches that we used in the Trump administration,” Giovanna said. “There are going to be some areas where the Biden administration can roll back in a certain sense . . . . They may look to continue certain sanctions against Chinese companies, for example, or commentary on the Chinese government, but it may not be for the same reasons, let’s say, that the Trump administration looked at it,” she added. “Those types of situations on the supply chain side and the cyber side are likely to be challenges for the Biden administration if they are going to try to reset and roll back some of the restrictions. But, I do think over the course of time, a Biden administration is going to take on its own personality and will try to shift away from some of the Trump administration priorities, while at the same time preserving some of the current relationship with China.”