Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday promised more gradual market-opening steps at the start of an import fair, but no initiatives on technology policy and other irritants that sparked a tariff war with Washington.
The second China International Import Expo showcases the country’s vast import market of 1.4 billion people to help deflect complaints that it improperly subsidizes industries and shields them from competition. It offers a marketing platform for foreign suppliers of goods from wine to yachts, but does less for companies that are already established in China.
“The door that China is opening will only open further and wider,” Xi said in a speech to an audience that included French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Greece, Jamaica and Serbia.
Photo: AFP
Xi affirmed promises to reduce restrictions on foreign investment and an offer, first made in June, to accelerate work on a China-Europe investment treaty.
Beijing has announced plans over the past two years to make its state-dominated economy more productive. They include cutting import tariffs and abolishing limits on foreign ownership in auto manufacturing, finance and other fields.
None directly addresses US, European and other complaints about technology policies and other irritants that prompted US President Donald Trump to hike tariffs on Chinese imports, setting off a trade war that has threatened to chill global growth.
Xi made no mention of the battle with Washington, but called for building an “open and shared world economy.”
Macron said that market entry must be “accelerated, made more transparent,” and he appealed for equal treatment in subsidies and legal remedies.
Macron expressed hope that a US-Chinese settlement would “safeguard the interests of China’s and the United States’ other major trading partners, starting with the European Union.”
US and Chinese negotiators on Oct. 12 announced what Trump called a “phase one” agreement after talks in Washington. Envoys are negotiating the details.
The two sides have reported no progress on their biggest disputes and economists have said that a final settlement is unlikely this year.
On a conference call with reporters yesterday, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said that he was “reasonably optimistic” the phase one talks would be finished.
More difficult issues would wait for later rounds, he said.
“We’re hoping phase one will be a precursor of later agreements,” Ross said.
The EU is looking for “real, substantial” progress on the investment treaty before an EU-China summit in the second half of next year, the EU delegation in Beijing said in a statement.
“We want an ambitious agreement that grants wider market access, robust investment protection, greater predictability for our companies and commitments on sustainability,” the statement said.
The fair highlights Beijing’s emphasis on trade in food and manufactured goods, an area dominated by Chinese factories.
Opening services, a US strength, would target “a priority for the US government — reducing the bilateral trade deficit,” US-China Business Council vice president Jake Parker said.
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