The US Chamber of Commerce and more than 40 trade associations on Monday urged top US and Chinese officials to redouble efforts to implement a “phase one” trade agreement signed by the world’s two largest economies in January, despite strains related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴), the groups said that they were encouraged by the progress so far, but urged a significant increase in China’s purchases of US goods and services.
They said that combating the pandemic and restoring global growth depended in part on successful implementation of the US-China trade deal, which helped defuse a nearly 18-month trade dispute marked by tit-for-tat tariffs.
The agreement called for China to purchase US$200 billion in additional US goods and services over the next two years.
Jeremie Waterman, president of the chamber’s China Center, said that some progress had been made on structural issues and purchases of farm goods, but China needed to step up its purchases of US manufactured goods, services and energy to meet its targets now that its economy was starting to recover from the pandemic.
“There are areas where we see less progress, and where we think it’s critical that both sides redouble efforts,” Waterman said.
US-China tensions have spiked in the past few months over the origins of the novel coronavirus outbreak and passage of new national security legislation that limits Hong Kong’s autonomy.
US President Donald Trump has said that “decoupling” the two economies remains an option, and his trade adviser, US Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Director Peter Navarro, jolted markets last month when he said that the US-China trade agreement was “over,” although he quickly backtracked.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Monday said that the US president was considering several executive orders targeting China and manufacturing, but gave no details.
The US industry groups listed specific recommendations in an annex to the letter, including increased purchases of US aircraft and components, vehicles and medical devices, as well as cloud services and US energy products.
Accelerated implementation of the trade deal would help both countries while paving the way for phase two talks on other key issues such as subsidies, cybersecurity and digital trade, they said.
“Amid increasing bilateral tensions across the relationship, working together to improve trade and grow commerce can provide important benefits to both economies and help to improve relations,” they wrote in the letter.
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