The Day at a Glance | December 2 2020

The Top

· Biden will not eliminate tariffs placed on China; he will revise strategy with allies and maintain “phase 1” agreement.

· Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell renew efforts to reach a fiscal agreement in the US; and a bipartisan group is promoting a $908 billion dollar package.

· Labor outsourcing discussions in Mexico are postponed until next week.

· EU extends relief measures for Covid-19 hit loans to March.

· Economic indicators: Creation of jobs in the US private sector sets below estimates in November (ADP 307k vs 404k e.).

Economic environment

In an interview with the New York Times, United States President elect Joe Biden assured that he will reassess the country`s strategy regarding China in coordination with European allies. Biden assured that he will not immediately eliminate the “phase 1” of the trade agreement that Trump signed with China or remove tariffs until thoroughly reviewing the country`s strategy with Asian and European allies to face China`s abusive trade practices, such as intellectual property theft, subsidies and dumping. The new President`s intentions are to return to a multilateral approach in order to solve the issue. China`s Foreign Ministry, for its part, once again said that resolving disputes requires mutual respect between both countries, a stance it has held since negotiations were taking place with the Trump administration. So far, China has met only 44% of the total of purchases that it had committed itself to carrying out in the “phase 1” agreement and tariffs worth a little over $360 billion dollars on Chinese goods remain in place. It`s expected that Biden will focus on solving national issues during the first year of his term, which is why the country`s relationship with China will not drastically change at the beginning of his Presidency.