Daily Times -US, China to review trade headaches

US, China to review trade headaches
* US expected to press China for more currency flexibility, more protection of IPRs and more market access
WASHINGTON: Top US and Chinese officials will go over well-trodden ground when they hold an annual review of trade ties this week just ahead of a visit to the United States by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
At Tuesday’s meeting here of the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), the two sides will review a familiar litany of bilateral headaches in the politically sensitive relationship.
US trade representative Rob Portman and commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez are expected to press China for more currency flexibility, more protection of intellectual property rights and more market access, officials said.
“We expect the meeting to deliver on some important objectives, but China has a tremendous amount of work to do given the imbalance in our relationship,” Portman’s spokeswoman Christin Baker said. Sitting on the other side of the table, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi may dangle the carrot of lucrative business contracts that are being harvested in advance of President Hu’s landmark visit from April 18 to 22. Wu, one of China’s most experienced trade negotiators, sought to play down the tensions while in Los Angeles on Thursday. “The friction in Sino-US trade relations is normal,” the China News Service quoted her as saying.
“Both sides must remain sincere and face up to the contradictions, and as long as we remain objective and maintain the spirit of consultations on an equal footing we can positively resolve the problems.”
Wu’s delegation signed 27 contracts with companies in Los Angeles, according to Chinese state press reports which said deals worth up to 15 billion dollars could be expected in a buying spree ahead of Hu’s tour.
That will be welcome to the US government, which is under mounting pressure from Congress to redress the country’s exploding trade deficit with China.
At 202 billion dollars last year, the US deficit with China was the largest ever recorded in the history of bilateral trade. The deficit would be less if China stopped artificially skewing the value of its currency to prop up its exports, many in Congress and US industry argue.
It would also diminish if China opened up its protected markets more. In late March, the United States and European Union took action at the World Trade Organisation, accusing China of unfairly blocking foreign-made auto parts. China’s US critics are just as angry at the epidemic of rip-off goods to be found in stores and markets across the booming country.
In an unusually blunt speech last month, Gutierrez warned that China risks a showdown with protectionists in Congress unless it gets serious about tackling rampant copyright theft.
“In the case of software, our trade deficit is being depressed by nothing short of criminal activity,” the US commerce secretary said. Gutierrez delivered his message personally during a visit to Beijing in late March.
“It is important for our colleagues in China to recognize that the voices in the United States calling for protectionist policies are real,” he told a US business forum while in the Chinese capital.
Portman, in an interview with AFP last weekend, described China as “both a challenge and an opportunity”.
“Their legitimate trade is increasingly efficient, and therefore affecting some sectors of our economy in direct ways,” he said.
“The fact that they don’t always play by the rules makes it more difficult for us,” he added. But Portman noted that China is also the United States’ fastest-growing export market. afp