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Sino-US trade gap dispute continues
By Jiang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-28 10:40
The Sino-US trade deficit does not tell the whole story of trade relations
between the two countries, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.
The gap in Sino-US trade relationship was achieved through a balance of
investments and trading goods and services, said Chong Quan, spokesperson of the
ministry.
His remarks are an objection to a review of Sino-US trade released by the US
Trade Representative Office.
In the review, US Trade Representative Rob Portman criticized China for
"failure to enforce intellectual property rights, its protection and support for
certain domestic industries and its refusal to fulfil certain market-opening
commitments." He said this "helped fuel the huge US trade gap with China."
According to the US report, the US trade deficit with China widened to US$202
billion last year.
Chong said there was a great disparity between US and Chinese statistics.
"The figure was exaggerated," he said. The Chinese statistics report the gap
to be US$114.17 billion.
Chong explained that while the United States sees an increasing trade deficit
with China, its trade volume with other Asian countries narrowed, as was
acknowledged in the report.
The spokesman said that the fast developing two-way trade facilitated the
sustained economic growth of the two countries and brought about mutual
benefits.
It is estimated that the US consumer price index would have increased by 2
per cent without consumer goods from China.
A survey by the US Chamber of Commerce in China found 62 per cent of US firms
provide goods and services in the Chinese market.
Annual sales of goods and services in China exceeded US$75 billion and the US
firms in China export a similar amount of goods to markets outside China.
In order to address these concerns in bilateral trade, a US trade delegation,
led by Jim Mendenhall, General Counsel at USTR, is scheduled to visit China
tomorrow.
Mendenhall will focus on Intellectual Property Right (IPR) and the auto
industry's impact on US-China trade relations.
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