US commerce chief Ross says to tackle bigger China trade issues

Official optimistic about Trump-Xi trade talks

HONG KONG, Sept 27, (Agencies): US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday that the Trump administration’s priorities as it prepares to tackle “bigger” and “more difficult” trade issues with China are better market access, less protectionism and protecting intellectual property rights.

Ross spoke to reporters in Hong Kong after visiting Beijing, where he said he made it clear to Chinese officials that “we do need major change” in the US-China trade relationship, which he said “is too lopsided.”

Ross met Premier Li Keqiang, China’s top economic official, in Beijing as part of preparations for President Donald Trump’s visit to the country in November. He will also lead a senior trade mission to China that month, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met when Xi visited the US in April, in a meeting where they agreed on a 100-day plan for trade talks to address Trump’s complaints about China’s swollen trade surpluses.

Ross said that while those talks have yielded some progress, such as a deal to let US beef into China, “we’re looking for bigger things and more difficult things than what we had in the first 100 days.”

He didn’t elaborate on specific issues, saying only that at the top of the list is “better market access both for companies operating there physically and for companies exporting there.”

The US also wants less protectionism and more respect for intellectual property rights from China, Ross said.

“The US is actually the least protectionist of any major country and China is one of the most protectionist,” he said, while adding that the “frankness and an openness” he saw on his visit to Beijing made him optimistic about the negotiations.

Trump has slammed China’s large trade surpluses with the United States and ordered an investigation into whether Beijing improperly pressures companies to hand over their technology in exchange for market access. Last year, the US ran up a $347 billion trade deficit in goods with China — accounting for nearly half the total.

Ross said he was optimistic about trade talks between President Trump and Xi Jinping when they meet in November.

(AP) Currency trader watches computer monitors near screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) (right), and the foreign exchange rate at the foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept 27. Asian stock markets were mixed...