Source: cnie.org
Topic: China's Economic
Sort Desciption: Trade Issues Summary U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years. Total U.S.-China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to $343 billion in 2006.
Content Inside:
Order Code RL33536
China-U.S. Trade Issues
Updated May 3, 2007
Wayne M. Morrison
Specialist in International Trade and Finance
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
China-U.S. Trade Issues
Summary
U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several
years. Total U.S.-China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to $343
billion in 2006. China is also now the 2nd largest U.S. trading partner, its 2nd largest
source of U.S. imports, and its 4th largest export market. With a huge population and
a rapidly expanding economy, China is a potentially huge market for U.S. exporters.
However, economic relations have become strained over a number of issues,
including Chinas large and growing trade surpluses with the United States; its failure
to fully implement its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, especially
in regards to intellectual property rights (IPR); its refusal to adopt a floating currency
system; and its maintenance of industrial policies and other practices deemed unfair
and/or harmful to various U.S. economic sectors.
The Bush Administration has come under increasing pressure from Congress to
take a more aggressive stance against various Chinese economic and trade practices.
It has recently filed a number of trade dispute resolution cases against China in the
WTO. Pending cases involve Chinas failure to protect IPR and afford market access
for IPR-related products, discriminatory regulations on imported auto parts, and
import and export subsidies to various industries in China (such as steel, wood, and
paper). In addition, the Administration recently reversed a long-standing policy that
countervailing cases (dealing with government subsidies) could not be brought
against non-market economies (such as China) when it brought against certain
imported Chinese glossy paper products. Finally, in December 2006, t ...
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