Biden says US will rejoin WHO; roars China 'will have to play by international rules'

US President-elect Joe Biden on November 19 said that his administration will rejoin the World Health Organisation on day one of his presidency. Biden had earlier condemned Trump for formally withdrawing the United States out of the organization, saying, “Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health.” Further, the former Vice President said that his office will ensure that China “plays by the international rules” when asked by a reporter how he plans to address China’s recent aggressive tactics on the global stage. In response to whether he will impose economic sanctions on China like the Trump administration, Biden said that the trade deficit due to the embargo had "gone up" and hadn’t slumped. 

Earlier, at a Presidential debate, Biden launched a scathing attack on US President Donald Trump for his China policies, saying, that the President embraced “guys like the thugs in North Korea and the president in China and Putin and others.” Biden made remarks following Trump’s claims that the steel tariffs were making the communist China "pay”. Biden argued that the tariffs were, as a matter of fact, coming out of the American taxpayers’ pocket, and were exceedingly “hurting American families.” Meanwhile, the US President responded, saying, that China paid “billions and billions of dollars” and the funds benefitted American farmers. Lambasting Donald Trump for diverting the real issues, Biden added that the President “doesn’t want to talk about the substantive issues,” and acted like a “typical politician.” 

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It's not about 'punishing China'

According to a report by the Council of Foreign Relations, even as the US President argued that the tariffs imposed on the Chinese imports were paid off by the Chinese government, his advisers such as Peter Navarro debunked the claims as false and illogical. While American farmers laid claims to nearly $66 billion tariff revenue, majorly these tariffs strained the American importers. The trade war with China had incurred the US billions in new import taxes, the advisers believed. Meanwhile criticizing Trump’s China stance, Biden told a bipartisan group of governors in his hometown in Wilmington, Delaware, that it wasn’t about “punishing China, but is about ensuring that China understands they have to play by the foundations. It is an easy proposition,” the president-elect stated. 

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