Chinese, US biz leaders oppose trade protectionism
Business leaders from the world’s largest developing and developed economies urged their governments to oppose trade protectionist policies as the 9th US- China CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue concluded in Beijing on Wednesday.
The dialogue was co- hosted by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).
The CCIEE and AmCham urged both governments to oppose unreasonable high- tech export restrictions, work to reduce trade barriers to promote a more balanced development of economic and trade relations, and eliminate investment barriers and discriminatory investment policies on an accelerated basis.
They also called
for the governments to strive to conclude bilateral investment treaty negotiations as soon as possible, according to a joint statement released on Wednesday by the CCIEE and AmCham.
The dialogue took place as leading business leaders from the two countries sought to provide support and recommendations to the Chinese and US governments as the 100- day plan announced during the April Mar- a- Lago summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump approaches its end on July 16.
Two- way openness
On Tuesday, during a welcome meeting for the US business leaders and former US officials attending the dialogue, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China welcomed foreign companies to continue investing in the country, and to grasp opportunities in the fast- growing services industry as the country transforms and upgrades manufacturing. This would promote the balanced development of economic and trade cooperation and reciprocity, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Li reportedly said he hopes the US side does not put all their energy into the issue of the US deficit with China in the trade of goods, as this will affect the two sides creating a larger market in the services sector, according to the Beijing News on Wednesday.
The US had a trade deficit of $ 347 billion with China in 2016, Reuters reported, citing US Treasury figures.
Commenting on the opportunities in the services trade between the two countries, Myron Brilliant, AmCham executive vice president, told the Global Times on Wednesday that mutual opening up in the services trade, such as the opening up of financial services and logistics, is not only a win for US companies in terms of market share but also for Chinese companies in terms of addressing market inefficiencies.
However, equity restrictions on insurance firms and banks and issues related to data and intellectual property are still limiting the participation of US firms in the Chinese market, according to Brilliant.
Brilliant said AmCham does not believe the trade deficit is a way to measure China- US relations.
“There is a lot of talk of trade deficit in the US. Certainly you heard it from their president. Our view is that there are imbalances in the relationship that need to be addressed but not because of the trade deficit,” Brilliant said, noting that the issue lies in the two- way openness of markets.
Market access
Recent bilateral trade and investment ties between China and the US have seen both ups and downs.
The upside includes China’s decision to allow US beef imports no later than July 16, and the US decision to allow Chinese cooked poultry to enter the country. Foreign- owned firms will also be able to provide credit rating services in China.
The downside includes a US national security probe into aluminum imports involving Chinese producers of the metal.
Zhang Xiaoqiang, CEO of the CCIEE said tackling unreasonable high- tech export restrictions would have huge implications to the trade deficit of the US.
“Last year, China imported $ 227 billion worth of integrated circuits. And if the US relaxes restrictions in this sector, it will have great significance for US business growth and would reduce the overall deficit,” Zhang said at the press conference.
“To put things in perspective, China’s four largest items of imported commodities in 2016 – crude, natural gas, soybeans, and iron ore – have a combined value of $ 225 billion. In this sense, relaxing high- tech exports would be much more effective than exports of US agricultural produce and energy in achieving a trade balance,” Zhang said.
The dialogue was attended by a constellation of business leaders and former top government officials from the two sides.
Companies included ConocoPhillips, Western Digital, Qualcomm and FedEx on the US side and HNA Group, SANY Group, Didi Chuxing and Inspur Group on the Chinese side.