Trade relations are 'win-win,' Hu tells US business leaders
By Michael Martina |
November 12, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Hu Jintao told the United States business community yesterday that trade relations between the two countries are win-win, promoting China as a US export market while defending it as a fair competitor on tariff rates and intellectual property.
US-China trade relations could be "limitless," Hu said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu, during a meeting with the US Chamber of Commerce and major companies.
To achieve that ambition, the two countries should expand trade in new and clean energy, emissions efficiency, pharmaceuticals, aviation and aerospace, Hu said, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website.
"If the United States soon loosens its limitations on technology exports to China, it will not only be good for relieving unbalanced trade, it will also promote the US economy and employment," he said.
China's imports will hopefully exceed US$8 trillion in the next five years, with consumer goods imports worth US$5 trillion by 2015, Hu said, making China a huge market to help America revive manufacturing and reach US President Barack Obama's "export doubling" goal.
Hu arrived in Hawaii on Thursday ahead of a weekend of meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders at a summit already overshadowed by growing alarm over the fallout from eurozone upheaval.
"Currently, instability and uncertainty of world economic recovery are growing," Hu said. "In this type of situation, we need the world to cross the river in the same boat, and respond hand-in-hand with a spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit."
The summit, to be hosted by Obama in the state where he was born, has been billed as an effort on forging a new free-trade area and an environmental technology pact.
Chinese officials have expressed doubts about US goals at APEC, including a green growth initiative that would cap tariffs on environmental goods and services, such as solar panels and wind turbines, at 5 percent.
Officials from China called Obama's APEC plans too ambitious, saying his tariff plan would unfairly target developing economies and not require any action from the US.
Hu defended China's tariff rates in his meeting with US business leaders, saying that China had dropped its overall tariffs from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent in the nearly 10 years since it joined the World Trade Organization, putting it "far below" average rates for developing countries.
Addressing a long-held complaint among foreign businesses in China, Hu said that enforcing implementation of China's already established intellectual property legal framework was a priority.
China's solar industry is at the heart of recent debate about whether it is "unfairly subsidized." The US Commerce Department said it would investigate whether Chinese companies sell solar panels in the US at unfair discounts.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming reiterated China's "grave concerns" over the investigation in a meeting held with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
The minister criticized the US for calling for free trade on environmental goods in the same breath as it announced that it is exploring trade remedies against China.
US-China trade relations could be "limitless," Hu said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu, during a meeting with the US Chamber of Commerce and major companies.
To achieve that ambition, the two countries should expand trade in new and clean energy, emissions efficiency, pharmaceuticals, aviation and aerospace, Hu said, according to a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website.
"If the United States soon loosens its limitations on technology exports to China, it will not only be good for relieving unbalanced trade, it will also promote the US economy and employment," he said.
China's imports will hopefully exceed US$8 trillion in the next five years, with consumer goods imports worth US$5 trillion by 2015, Hu said, making China a huge market to help America revive manufacturing and reach US President Barack Obama's "export doubling" goal.
Hu arrived in Hawaii on Thursday ahead of a weekend of meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders at a summit already overshadowed by growing alarm over the fallout from eurozone upheaval.
"Currently, instability and uncertainty of world economic recovery are growing," Hu said. "In this type of situation, we need the world to cross the river in the same boat, and respond hand-in-hand with a spirit of cooperation and mutual benefit."
The summit, to be hosted by Obama in the state where he was born, has been billed as an effort on forging a new free-trade area and an environmental technology pact.
Chinese officials have expressed doubts about US goals at APEC, including a green growth initiative that would cap tariffs on environmental goods and services, such as solar panels and wind turbines, at 5 percent.
Officials from China called Obama's APEC plans too ambitious, saying his tariff plan would unfairly target developing economies and not require any action from the US.
Hu defended China's tariff rates in his meeting with US business leaders, saying that China had dropped its overall tariffs from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent in the nearly 10 years since it joined the World Trade Organization, putting it "far below" average rates for developing countries.
Addressing a long-held complaint among foreign businesses in China, Hu said that enforcing implementation of China's already established intellectual property legal framework was a priority.
China's solar industry is at the heart of recent debate about whether it is "unfairly subsidized." The US Commerce Department said it would investigate whether Chinese companies sell solar panels in the US at unfair discounts.
Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming reiterated China's "grave concerns" over the investigation in a meeting held with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
The minister criticized the US for calling for free trade on environmental goods in the same breath as it announced that it is exploring trade remedies against China.
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