A US trade delegation arrived in Beijing and started a new round
of trade talks with China on Monday morning.??
This comes after both sides failed at the second round of talks
last Friday to resolve a simmering row over punitive US limits on
Chinese clothing imports.
Vice Premier Wu Yi, US
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and US Trade Representative
Robert Portman jointly chaired today's session, expected to focus
on a number of hot trade issues ranging from textile disputes to
intellectual property rights protection.
The technical-level talks on Friday were largely seen as a
preparation for today's conference of the Sino-US Joint Committee
on Commerce and Trade, or JCCT, an annual event between the two
countries to discuss major bilateral trade-related issues. The two
sides agreed to keep the channel of exchange open and continue the
consultations in order to find an appropriate way to solve the
textile and garment issue.
US commerce and trade officials in Beijing said a series of
trade agreements were likely to be signed during this year's JCCT
meetings, but remained conservative about the possibility of a
specific bilateral agreement on the textile dispute.
The US placed restrictions on seven Chinese textile products
after exports surged into the US market following the ending of a
global textile tariff system on January 1 this year.
China and the EU headed off a similar confrontation in early
June when they agreed to limit the annual growth of 10 Chinese
textile product exports to the EU to between 8.5 and 12.5 percent
until the end of 2007.
Both sides hailed the agreement as a victory for free trade and
compromise. And China has urged the US to seek a similar pact and
forgo unilateral administrative moves that cap the growth of seven
categories of imports at 7.5 percent annually until the end of this
year.
However, Chinese trade negotiators have largely given up hope of
reaching a EU-type agreement with the US that would resolve the
textile dispute during the ongoing JCCT meeting. But both sides
pledged to keep the door open for further consultations.
(CCTV.com July 11, 2005)