Katherine Tai, the Biden administration's choice to take over as the US trade representative, speaks during an event at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Del, Dec 11, 2020. (SUSAN WALSH/AFP)

WASHINGTON - Katherine Tai, nominated to become US President-elect Joe Biden’s top trade negotiator, has family roots in China, she told reporters on Friday, answering questions bubbling in Asia since her nomination first surfaced earlier this week.

Katherine Tai, who speaks fluent Mandarin, said her parents were born in the Chinese mainland and grew up in Taiwan before moving to the United States in the 1960s as graduate students in the sciences

If confirmed as US Trade Representative, Tai, who currently serves as the chief trade counsel for the US House Ways and Means Committee, would play a key role in negotiating trade agreements with other countries.

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Tai, who speaks fluent Mandarin, said her parents were born in the Chinese mainland and grew up in Taiwan before moving to the United States in the 1960s as graduate students in the sciences. Tai, 45, was born years later in Connecticut.

Tai, who spoke briefly after being introduced by Biden, said her father was a researcher working to advance treatments for American soldiers who served in the Vietnam War, and her mother still works on treatments for opioid addiction at the National Institutes of Health.

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Tai said it never occurred to her until decades later - while filling out paperwork to work for the agency she may soon head - that by being born in the United States she became a US citizen before her parents, who were naturalized in 1979.