Biden Foreign Trade Policy: A New Deal for Protectionism

Abstract

The election of Joe Biden as President of the United States in November 2020 generated high hopes for a rapid return to active and loyal multilateral cooperation and, in particular, the revitalization of transatlantic relations, which had become difficult under the previous administration. However, the widespread favour with which Biden’s debut in foreign policy was welcomed decreased significantly starting from the second half of 2021 due to episodes that risked to undermine cohesion among Western countries and to cast shadows on the coherence between the various strategic objectives declared by the USA. One of the areas in which the expectations generated by Biden’s inauguration as President of the USA were most disappointed and in which it seems more difficult to get rid of Trump’s “legacy” is that relating to the US international trade relations, even within the WTO. In this area, Biden’s policy still shows a substantial continuity with his predecessor’s choices on some major points that are triggering the most serious crisis ever faced by the WTO since its inception: 1) the continued recourse to protectionist practices of dubious compatibility with WTO rules; 2) hostility towards the WTO dispute settlement system (in particular towards the WTO Appellate Body, whose activities have been completely paralyzed since December 2019) and contestation of the overall institutional structure of the WTO and its functioning; 3) the rivalry with China.

Keywords: Trump; Harris; America First; America is Back; WTO; Protectionism; “Buy American”; China