JCCT Meeting Closes With Claims of Gains, but Blank Says Work Still to be Done

U.S. officials said there was meaningful progress on key elements of the U.S.-China trade relationship during the annual meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington this week. But they also said much more work remains to be done to open China's market to U.S. exports and investment. The meetings "were important both as a capstone to our past efforts and to lay a foundation for progress going forward," said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk (here).

Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank said the meeting was "able to address U.S. concerns relating to intellectual property and innovation, to agree on the elimination of significant regulatory obstacles that were impeding U.S. exports, and to secure meaningful steps for dealing with core issues in China's Government Procurement Agreement accession." The U.S. and Chinese governments also signed agreements related to enhancing understanding and measurement of bilateral trade, and increasing the numbers of reverse trade missions which support China's continued development while creating more U.S. exports and jobs.

"American companies continue to see progress as a result of the high-level engagement from the JCCT meeting," said John Frisbie, president of the U.S.-China Business Council (here). Noting the leadership change in China, as well as likely changes within the Obama administration, he said "it is important in this transition period for both governments to ensure that the JCCT continues to play an important role." "The outcomes from this JCCT won't solve every problem, but will allow American companies to expand business opportunities in China and job growth in the US," Frisbie said.