Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released his book, No Trade is Free. Some nuggets:
- Every time Lighthizer hosted British negotiators in Washington, he insisted on serving them chlorine-treated American chicken, a U.S. sanitary practice that sparked an outcry among U.K. consumers at the time.
- Lighthizer recounts his dismemberment of the World Trade Organization appellate body and his dislike of its director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whom he describes in the book as “China’s ally in Geneva.” In 2020, Lighthizer blocked Okonjo-Iweala’s nomination to be the first American and Africa-born woman to lead the trade body. She later won the backing of the Biden administration.
- During a bilateral meeting at the Hôtel du Palais in the French seaside town of Biarritz, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi complained to then President Donald Trump that Lighthizer was ghosting his trade minister and had unfairly removed India from a U.S. duty-free trade program called the Generalized System of Preferences. Asked by Trump to respond, Lighthizer decided he’d finally had enough. India is “the most protectionist country in the world,” Lighthizer said. As he describes in his new book, Lighthizer then berated the small audience of Indian officials about a laundry list of unfair trade practices that he said were driving the then-$23.4 billion trade deficit with the U.S. The effect of the intervention was “palpable” in the room, Lighthizer writes.
- In retrospect, Lighthizer said one of his big regrets was that he wasn’t able to forge a closer economic relationship with India during his tenure. “We clearly have the geopolitical reason to do it,” Lighthizer writes. “India is a natural adversary of China.”
- Lighthizer emphasizes the need for strategic decoupling and ending normal trade relations with China. He recommends raising tariffs on Chinese imports until a balanced trade is achieved and calls for higher tariffs like those imposed on products from Russia or Cuba. Despite potential retaliation from China, Lighthizer sees these changes as promoting strategic decoupling.
The book supports limiting Chinese ownership of American farmland and industry and suggests Congress should grant the government authority to regulate U.S. investments in China, as businesses won’t take these steps independently. However, some critics worry these measures might lead to increased anti-Asian sentiments.
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