Chinese Economic Coercion Will be Focus of New Task Force

President Biden issued Dec. 12 a memorandum establishing within the White House the Countering Economic Coercion Task Force, which will comprise senior representatives from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative; the departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, the Treasury, State, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Energy; and other federal agencies.

According to the memorandum, the task force will oversee the development and implementation of an integrated strategy to respond to and deter coercive economic practices by countries of concern, including China. This strategy will include (1) systematically monitoring and evaluating the costs of such practices on U.S. businesses and overall U.S. economic performance, instances in which such practices taken against a non-Chinese entity have benefitted other parties, and the impacts such practices have had on U.S. national interests, (2) facilitating coordination among federal departments and agencies when responding to and deterring such practices, and (3) forming policy recommendations for the implementation of relevant U.S. authorities to respond to instances of Chinese coercive economic practices.

The task force has been directed to submit within six months an initial report that includes a number of specified elements, such as the different types of tools China uses for economic coercion and when they are employed, the tools the U.S. government uses or could use in response and any related gaps in existing resources or capabilities, preemptive practices that could be used to defend or deter against Chinese coercive economic practices, and the key vulnerabilities of U.S. allies and partners to such practices.

The task force will then submit reports one and two years later providing updates to the information in the initial report as well as a description and assessment of measures taken to implement the anti-coercion strategy. A final report due within 30 days of the second update will provide an analysis of China’s coercive economic practices and their costs to U.S. businesses, a description of areas of possible vulnerability for U.S., partner, and ally businesses, and recommendations for further action.