core sector communique

Senior Officials Hold Midyear Review on U.S.-China Trade Issues

Washington - Senior U.S. and Chinese trade officials discussed recent developments in U.S.-China trade and investment relations at the July 27 U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) midyear review meeting in Washington.

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez and Deputy United States Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis co-chaired the meeting with Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Chao. Ambassador Islam Siddiqui, chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Janet Nuzum, associate administrator for policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, also participated in the meeting.

The two governments reviewed implementation of commitments made at the 2011 JCCT and began preparations for the 2012 JCCT meeting, which is to be held in the United States later this year, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said.

"The U.S.-China trade relationship remains one of the most important in the world, but the relationship must be fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial," Sánchez said. "We will continue to push China to take concrete steps that open its markets to and level the playing field for U.S. goods and services, to ensure that these principles guide our bilateral trade ties."

Marantis said, "We leverage the JCCT process to resolve trade and investment policy challenges, and the midyear review is a key opportunity to develop momentum for this year's JCCT plenary and ensure that China fully implements last year's commitments."

China is a critical destination for U.S. manufactured goods and services, as America's third-largest export market, following neighboring Canada and Mexico. Between 2009 and 2011, U.S. goods exports to China grew by nearly 50 percent.

The JCCT, established in 1983, is the main forum for addressing bilateral trade concerns and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)