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US launches new task force on China trade
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-15 13:33
The Bush administration declared Tuesday that the United States has entered a
new phase in its economic relationship with China and promised "rigorous
enforcement" of laws aimed at curbing what the China's critics see as "unfair"
trade practices.
The pledge was contained in a 29-page administration review of America's
economic relationship with China that was released four days after the
government reported that the United States recorded a $202 billion trade deficit
with China last year. That's the highest ever recorded with a single country and
up 25 percent from 2004.
U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, whose office prepared the new review,
said the administration intended to use "all options available" to address
various problems with China.
"Our U.S.-China trade relationship lacks equity, durability and balance,"
Portman said at a news conference. "As a mature trading partner, China should be
held accountable for its actions and required to live up to its
responsibilities."
Portman announced creation of a trade enforcement task force in his office
that will be headed by a chief counsel for China trade, a new position.
He called it unprecedented for the USTR to devote an enforcement team to a
single country. He said previous administrations had not done this when the
United States was running huge trade deficits in the 1980s and 1990s with Japan.
Portman said the administration intended to focus on the situation of China's
intellectual property. It also will focus on China's committments made in
joining the WTO and halting various government subsidies to Chinese companies.
Portman said the administration would discuss its new initiatives at an April
11 meeting in Washington with top Chinese economic officials.
China tells US not to politicize the issue
Chu Mao-ming, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said he
could not comment directly on the new report because he had not yet seen it. But
he said China did not want to "politicize trade issues. We hope that trade
relations between China and the United States will be conducted under the
principals of development, equality and mutual benefit."
China is willing to work with the United States to seek a balance in their
trade, but it will not help if political elements are embedded in the issue, a
top Chinese legislator said Tuesday.
Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of
the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said China and the
United States should ease frictions in their trade ties and find a win-win
solution through consultations.
"We are equal partners and we should deal with the problem calmly Don't
politicize it," Cheng told a Sino-US trade forum.
Cheng's remarks came amidst the backdrop of rising pressure from US
congressmen to the Bush administration to find fault with China.
US senators Byron Dorgan and Lindsey Graham introduced legislation last week
to repeal the normal trade relations status between the two countries.
The US Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations status in
2000, paving the way for its entry to the World Trade Organization.
Another piece of legislation proposes to impose across-the-board tariffs of
27.5 per cent on Chinese imports unless Beijing revalues its currency.
Cheng admitted that China has a big trade surplus with the United States, but
clarified that it is not the country's aim.
"What we should bear in mind is that both sides reap benefits from trade
co-operation," he said.
He quoted a study by US investment bank Morgan Stanley estimating that US
consumers had saved US$600 billion in the past decade by buying cheaper goods
made in China.
China had also used a significant chunk of foreign exchange reserves, partly
earnings from its trade surplus, to buy US bonds. At the end of 2005, China held
US$300 billion in US treasury bonds.
Cheng called on the United States to help reduce its deficit with China by
relaxing restrictions on high-tech exports only 10 per cent of China's high-tech
imports come from the United States.
"I would say if you could sell a space shuttle to China, the situation would
be greatly improved," Cheng said. "That's a joke. But China has to be allowed to
buy more than Boeing airplanes."
Vice-Minister of Commerce Yi Xiaozhun told the forum that China had done a
lot to reduce the trade deficit, with imports from the United States witnessing
the highest growth in 2005.
China reported that its surplus with the United States last year was US$114.2
billion. Using different statistical standards caused the discrepancy with the
US figure.
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