United States Welcomes Chinese Action on Key Trade Issues

News Date April 17, 2006

        Last week, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johann, and U.S. Trade Ambassador Rob Portman met with China's Vice Premier Wu Yi for the 17th annual senior-level meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Commenced in 1983, the JCCT is an ongoing dialogue to address issues affecting U.S.-China trade and investment.
        Among the outcomes of last week's meeting was China's commitment to address a number of U.S. trade concerns in three areas: enhancing access of U.S. companies and farmers and ranchers to the Chinese market; improving protection of intellectual property rights in China; and moving toward a transparent and market-oriented system of government procurement in China. The Chinese agreed to the following: reopening its market to U.S. beef exports; launching negotiations to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) government procurement agreement; requiring Chinese computers to use legal software; closing optical disk plants that produce pirated CDs and DVDs and stepped up enforcement of IPR; and requiring all trade-related measures to be published in a single official journal. These actions have resulted from extensive discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials over the past six months.
        "Our message to China has been consistent and clear. American exporters, workers, farmers and service providers deserve the same access to Chinese markets as China has to our markets," said Portman.
        "I am pleased to announce that China conditionally agreed to resume imports of U.S. beef," said Johanns. "We will work quickly to finalize the terms of this market opening. China is an important market for U.S. beef, accounting for $100 million of our beef exports in 2003. This decision comes after lengthy technical discussions and is based on evidence that our safeguards work and that science supports the safety of U.S. beef."
        The U.S. and Chinese officials also agreed to establish a U.S.-China High Technology and Strategic Trade Working Group under the JCCT to review export control cooperation and facilitate high technology trade. Among the group's first activities will be planning a bilateral export control seminar in China.
        Established in 1983, the JCCT is an annual government-to-government platform designed to develop and facilitate the U.S.-China commercial relationship. The U.S. uses the JCCT as a forum to identify and resolve problems and to expand trade opportunities. The previous JCCT was held in Beijing on July 11, 2005. USTR released its top-to-bottom review of U.S.-China trade policy on February 14, 2006, in a report entitled, "U.S.-China Trade Relations: Entering a New Phase of Greater Accountability and Enforcement." The report can be found at http://www.ustr.gov/. (Contact: Jennifer Yezak)