Overwhelming Senate Approval with 84 Votes in Favor
Some Republicans Demand Stronger Public Lockdown Measures
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] With Gina Raimondo, the nominee for U.S. Secretary of Commerce, receiving overwhelming support and confirmation from the U.S. Senate, analysts say that the Biden administration's trade dispute policy toward China has entered its main track. Some Republican senators reportedly voted against Raimondo's confirmation, citing concerns that her stance on containing China is weak, leading to expectations that Raimondo's China policy will become even tougher going forward.
According to foreign media including the Associated Press, on the 2nd (local time), the U.S. Senate passed Raimondo's confirmation with overwhelming support of 84 votes in favor and 15 against. The 49-year-old Raimondo is currently serving her second term as the first female governor of Rhode Island and is expected to step down from the governorship soon. A Yale Law School graduate, she was a well-known figure in the U.S. industrial sector as a venture capitalist before entering politics. With extensive knowledge of the industry and classified as a hardliner on China, she has received strong support from both the Democratic and Republican parties.
At the Senate confirmation hearing on the 26th of last month, Raimondo stated that she would definitely eliminate China's unfair trade practices. She said, "China has clearly dumped cheap steel and aluminum into the U.S., harming American workers and the competitiveness of our companies," and warned, "I plan to take a very aggressive stance so that Americans can compete against China's unfair practices," signaling a further escalation in the trade dispute with China.
Nevertheless, some Republican senators opposed Raimondo's confirmation, arguing that a stronger offensive against China is necessary. According to Politico, some Republican senators led by Senator Ted Cruz opposed Raimondo's confirmation because she refused during the Senate confirmation hearing to keep major Chinese telecommunications company Huawei on the Commerce Department's Entity List blacklist.
In response, Raimondo softened her stance, saying, "I do not believe that companies on that list should not be there," but Senator Cruz expressed opposition just before the vote, stating, "It would be simple to keep banned companies like Huawei on the blacklist, but she repeatedly refused to do so." He claimed, "This appears to be part of an institutional decision to accommodate the Chinese Communist Party regime." Politico reported that this is both a political offensive by the Republicans and a call for a stronger strategy against China.
Going forward, Raimondo is expected to focus on resolving the economic difficulties that have emerged in the U.S. following the COVID-19 pandemic for some time after taking office. She is anticipated to lead specific economic stimulus measures aligned with President Biden's Green New Deal and job creation strategies. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce oversees 12 agencies, including the National Weather Service, the National Census Bureau, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, making the position central to environmentally friendly policies such as the Green New Deal.
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