US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez yesterday warned China that its failure to keep market opening promises is fueling US protectionist sentiment despite a delay in a vote on proposed sanctions against Chinese imports.
The warning comes ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) trip to Washington next month.
Gutierrez, in a speech to US businesspeople, appealed to Chinese leaders to help fight efforts to restrict trade, saying Beijing must do more to open its markets and stop rampant product piracy.
PHOTO: EPA
"There is a real protectionist and isolationist sentiment creeping up, emerging in our country. That is not good" for trade relations, he said.
Gutierrez met this week with Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), China's top economic official, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai (薄熙來), and others.
He wouldn't give details of their talks but said earlier he would bring up market access, product piracy and complaints about China's exchange-rate controls.
On Tuesday in Washington, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, and Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, proposed a law pushing the Bush administration to act more aggressively on China's currency policy.
Washington and Beijing have jousted for months over China's reluctance to let the yuan trade freely in financial markets, which many in Congress say keeps its exports artificially cheap.
On Tuesday two other US senators -- New York Democrat Charles Schumer and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham -- said they would defer a vote on their separate bill threatening a 27.5 percent duty on Chinese imports. They said their recent trip to China had left them more encouraged that Beijing would reform its currency rules.
Gutierrez said he was unfamiliar with the Grassley-Baucus bill but repeatedly warned against rising protectionist rancor aimed at China, while urging Beijing to address US complaints.
"All that we have done together can be put at risk by rising the level of trade tension in the US government," Gutierrez told US business executives in Beijing.
Gutierrez declined to comment on whether Washington would back EU moves to complain to the WTO about Chinese policies on auto component imports.
But he said Chinese efforts to subsidize local industries, promote home-grown security standards for wireless computer networks, and restrict multinationals' access to government purchasing programs were straining trade ties.
"Our companies still don't have the access that they were promised under the terms of China's WTO entry," he told a gathering of US business executives yesterday, referring to Beijing's joining the WTO in 2001.
"The bottom line is that our companies still don't have the access they were promised," he said.
But during Gutierrez's visit, senior Chinese officials rejected the main US complaint that China's currency and trade policies had created the two countries' trade gap.
Bo told Gutierrez on Tuesday that China was not to blame for the gap, which he said was the outcome of broader global economic shifts, according to a report on his ministry's Web site.
"A considerable amount of Chinese exports to the United States comes from US companies who have invested in China," Bo told him.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to