Lawmakers Press Trump to Raise Trade Issues in Meeting With Chinese President
A bipartisan group of senators and a slew of House Democrats wrote several different letters to President Donald Trump urging trade action during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping April 6 and 7 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The top Republican and Democrat on both the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees signed a letter (here) calling on Trump to address alleged Chinese weak intellectual property protections, “non-scientific” regulatory barriers facing U.S. agricultural exports to China, currency intervention, non-compliance with World Trade Organization obligations, commodity overcapacities and policies that pick “state champions.”
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In another letter (here), 12 Senate Democrats urged Trump to address overcapacity, currency manipulation and “industrial espionage.” The U.S. should remain vigilant of Chinese adherence to bilateral commitments to not conduct or knowingly support “cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property,” and Chinese IP theft, including sales of counterfeits, hurts all forms of industry, the senators wrote. They also called for Trump to reaffirm the U.S.’s stance that China is a non-market economy. “Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has consistently failed to comply with its international trade obligations,” the senators said. “And workers across the U.S., including workers in our home states, have paid the price.”
Further, 90 House Democrats, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Conn., wrote a letter (here) to Trump confronting him more directly by noting that his administration hasn’t followed through on a campaign promise to label China a currency manipulator on Trump’s first day in office. The letter also attempts to dissuade Trump from negotiating a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with the nation, noting that it would include investor protections in NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and make it easier to offshore U.S. jobs. But U.S. Council for International Business Vice President for Investment and Financial Services Shaun Donnelly wrote an opinion piece (here) urging Trump to not give up on a BIT that would provide comprehensive coverage and definitions, strict rule-of-law provisions, effective enforcement disciplines, and minimum exceptions and carve-outs. Such an agreement would promote U.S. exports, Donnelly wrote.
Almost 40 senators from both sides of the aisle signed yet another letter (here) sent to Trump urging him discuss with Xi reaching an agreement to open China’s market to U.S. beef, which has been denied access to the country since 2003. Although China officially removed its ban on U.S. beef exports in September (see 1609260025), remaining technical barriers are preventing actual U.S. beef access to the market, the senators wrote.
In a blog post (here), U.S. Chamber of Commerce Head of International Affairs Myron Brilliant called for leaders to "demonstrate clarity, common sense, and maturity" in commercial relationships. "In addition to a focus on the important issue of overcapacity, we encourage President Trump to emphasize policy concerns affecting industries of the future, like advanced manufacturing and the cloud computing services that will support it," Brilliant wrote. "We hope there can be a discussion of what China is doing to advance market reforms and openness -- as opposed to closing and industrial policy -- in these crucial areas for all in the global economy."