Paulson Seeks Movement in International Trade Talks with China

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recently played down the expectations for any major breakthroughs in the upcoming Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China. Needless to say, he said that he was seeking for signs of short-term progress in the international trade talks. He also hoped that discussions between the members of the US Congress and the visiting Chinese officials would help the two parties in bridging their differences. During a conference organized by a think tank based in Washington, Mr. Paulson said that the Chinese government needed to act quickly in revaluing yuan. It must be noted that China has been criticized and accused by some US officials of doing unfair practices in international trade. Particularly, China has been accused of allegedly manipulating the value of its currency in order to gain an unfair advantage in global trade.

It must be noted that the US and China held the first round of their Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing in December 2006. The second round of international trade talks between the two countries is due to take place in Washington from May 23 to 24. The US team would be led by Mr. Paulson, while the Chinese delegation would be headed by Vice Premier Wu Yi. During the forum, the US treasury secretary said that the government was focused on achieving long-term goals while looking for short-term results.

According to Mr. Paulson, China has already benefited from the economic dialogue considering that the US has supported the membership of China to the Inter-American Development Bank based in Washington. He said that the international trade talks would cover issues such as the increase of commercial airline flights between the United States and China and the improvement of environmental protection.

Washington is hoping that the economic dialogue would defuse the efforts of the Congress to impose sanctions on some Chinese products. It must be noted that the US legislators have been threatening to sanction China if it continued with its unfair practices in international trade. A month ago, the US government decided to file two cases against China at the World Trade Organization. The complaints covered piracy and restrictions imposed by the Chinese government on some American products. The US also imposed higher duties on Chinese paper exports considering that these products benefited largely from government subsidies, thus gaining an unfair advantage over US paper products. The Strategic Economic Dialogue is expected to improve international trade between the US and China.