U.S., Chinese Officials to Meet Dec. 18-19 on Trade

Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will host Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for the 23rd session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) Dec. 18-19 in Washington, D.C. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will also take part in the discussions to address agricultural trade concerns, the Commerce Department said.

"The JCCT is critical to resolving important trade and investment issues for American stakeholders and to moving our trade relationship with China forward. This year we're focused on delivering meaningful results on issues including enforcement of intellectual property rights, combating pressures to transfer technology, eliminating trade-distortive industrial policies, and removing key obstacles to our exports," Kirk said.

The JCCT holds high-level plenary meetings on an annual basis to review progress made by working groups that focus on a wide variety of trade issues. These working groups meet throughout the year to address topics such as intellectual property rights, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, information technology, tourism, commercial law, environment, and statistics.