Leading economist Stephen Roach mentioned he discovered it “actually curious” that U.S. President Joe Biden has left a lot of his predecessor’s policies on China in place.

Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University, mentioned Biden saved the “critically flawed” U.S.-China phase one trade deal and the tariffs on China — however reversed many different policies enacted by former President Donald Trump.

“Why has he singled out the China-Trump coverage as one that’s price sustaining, when he has actually tried to wipe the slate clear of each different potential Trump coverage that he inherited? That’s an necessary query that wants to be answered,” Roach advised CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Thursday.

During Trump’s time period, the U.S. and China had been engaged in a commerce battle that threatened to derail the worldwide economic system after each side slapped retaliatory tariffs on one another’s merchandise. The section one commerce deal put a pause to the commerce combat, however didn’t roll again these elevated tariffs.

Last month, the 2 nations’ first high-level meeting kicked off with an alternate of insults, and the U.S. — together with a few of its Western allies — slapped sanctions on Chinese officials and entities for human rights abuses within the Xinjiang area.  

Beijing retaliated in opposition to the U.S. and its allies with its personal sanctions.

Roach, who’s a former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, mentioned he is “very involved” about escalating U.S.-China rhetoric.

“The scenario goes from dangerous to worse and it does not have to do this,” he mentioned. “We want, I feel, a extra level-headed strategy from the U.S. aspect in addition to from the Chinese aspect to return to the areas that now we have in frequent.”