Monday, March 24, 2008
[IWS] CRS: CHINA-U.S. TRADE ISSUES [7 March 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33536
China-U.S. Trade Issues, Updated March 7, 2008
Wayne M. Morrison, Specialist in International Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33536_20080307.pdf
[full-text, 34 pages]
Summary
U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several
years. Total U.S.-China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to $387
billion in 2007. China overtook Japan to become the third largest U.S. export
market, and overtook Canada to become the largest source of U.S. imports.
With a huge population and a rapidly expanding economy, China is a potentially
huge market for U.S. exporters. However, U.S.-China economic relations have
become strained over a number of issues, including large and growing U.S. trade
deficits with China (which hit $256 billion in 2007), China's failure to fully
implement its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments (especially in regards
to protection of intellectual property rights), its refusal to adopt a floating currency
system, its use of industrial policies and other practices deemed unfair and/or harmful
to various U.S. economic sectors, and failure to ensure that its exports to the United
States meet U.S. health and safety standards.
The Bush Administration has come under increasing pressure from Congress to
take a more aggressive stance against various Chinese economic and trade practices.
In response, it filed a number of trade dispute resolution cases against China in the
WTO, including China's failure to protect IPR and afford market access for IPRrelated
products, discriminatory regulations on imported auto parts, and import and
export subsidies to various industries in China. In addition, the Administration
reversed a long-standing policy that countervailing cases (dealing with government
subsidies) could not be brought against non-market economies (such as China). In
December 2006, the Administration began a "Strategic Economic Dialogue" (SED)
with China to discuss major long-term economic issues between the two countries;
the latest SED talks were held in December 2007. In response to growing concerns
in the United States over the health, safety, and quality of certain Chinese products,
the Administration in 2007 concluded agreements with China on toys, food and feed,
drugs and medical devices, and tires.
Numerous bills have been introduced in Congress that would impact U.S.-China
economic relations. H.R. 321, H.R. 782, H.R. 1002, H.R. 2942, S. 364, S. 796, S.
1607, and S. 1677 seek to address China's currency policy. H.R. 388 would prohibit
U.S. imports of Chinese autos as long as Chinese tariffs on autos are higher than U.S.
tariffs. H.R. 708, H.R. 1229, and S. 974 would apply U.S. countervailing laws to
China. H.R. 1958 and S. 571 would terminate China's permanent normal trade
relations status. H.R. 275 would prohibit U.S. companies from aiding regimes that
restrict Internet access. S. 1919 would limit the president's discretion on Section 421
investigations on import surges from China. H.R. 3273 would expand U.S. export
promotion programs to boost exports to China. Finally, numerous bills have been
introduced to address concerns over unsafe imports (including from China).
This report examines major U.S.-China trade issues and will be updated as
events warrant.
Contents
U.S. Trade with China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Major U.S. Exports to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Major U.S. Imports from China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Major U.S.-China Trade Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Health and Safety Concerns Over Certain Imports from China . . . . . . . . . . . 8
China's Poor Regulatory System and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
China's Currency Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Bush Administration's Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
China Changes its Currency Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
China and the World Trade Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
WTO Implementation Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
U.S. WTO Cases Against China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Violations of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
History of U.S. Efforts to Improve China's IPR Regime . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Scope of the IPR Piracy Problem in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The U.S. Files Two WTO Cases Against China on IPR . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Applying U.S. Countervailing Laws to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Textile and Apparel Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
U.S.-China Trade Legislation in the 110th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Currency Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Other Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. Merchandise Trade with China: 1980-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Table 2. U.S. Merchandise Trade Balances with Major Trading Partners:2007 . . . .. . . . . . . . . 3
Table 3. Major U.S. Exports to China: 2003-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Table 4. U.S. Merchandise Exports to Major Trading Partners in 2001 and 2007 . .. . . . . . . . . 4
Table 5. Top Five U.S. Imports from China: 2003-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Table 6. Major Foreign Suppliers of U.S. Computer Equipment Imports: 2000-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL33536
China-U.S. Trade Issues, Updated March 7, 2008
Wayne M. Morrison, Specialist in International Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33536_20080307.pdf
[full-text, 34 pages]
Summary
U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several
years. Total U.S.-China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to $387
billion in 2007. China overtook Japan to become the third largest U.S. export
market, and overtook Canada to become the largest source of U.S. imports.
With a huge population and a rapidly expanding economy, China is a potentially
huge market for U.S. exporters. However, U.S.-China economic relations have
become strained over a number of issues, including large and growing U.S. trade
deficits with China (which hit $256 billion in 2007), China's failure to fully
implement its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments (especially in regards
to protection of intellectual property rights), its refusal to adopt a floating currency
system, its use of industrial policies and other practices deemed unfair and/or harmful
to various U.S. economic sectors, and failure to ensure that its exports to the United
States meet U.S. health and safety standards.
The Bush Administration has come under increasing pressure from Congress to
take a more aggressive stance against various Chinese economic and trade practices.
In response, it filed a number of trade dispute resolution cases against China in the
WTO, including China's failure to protect IPR and afford market access for IPRrelated
products, discriminatory regulations on imported auto parts, and import and
export subsidies to various industries in China. In addition, the Administration
reversed a long-standing policy that countervailing cases (dealing with government
subsidies) could not be brought against non-market economies (such as China). In
December 2006, the Administration began a "Strategic Economic Dialogue" (SED)
with China to discuss major long-term economic issues between the two countries;
the latest SED talks were held in December 2007. In response to growing concerns
in the United States over the health, safety, and quality of certain Chinese products,
the Administration in 2007 concluded agreements with China on toys, food and feed,
drugs and medical devices, and tires.
Numerous bills have been introduced in Congress that would impact U.S.-China
economic relations. H.R. 321, H.R. 782, H.R. 1002, H.R. 2942, S. 364, S. 796, S.
1607, and S. 1677 seek to address China's currency policy. H.R. 388 would prohibit
U.S. imports of Chinese autos as long as Chinese tariffs on autos are higher than U.S.
tariffs. H.R. 708, H.R. 1229, and S. 974 would apply U.S. countervailing laws to
China. H.R. 1958 and S. 571 would terminate China's permanent normal trade
relations status. H.R. 275 would prohibit U.S. companies from aiding regimes that
restrict Internet access. S. 1919 would limit the president's discretion on Section 421
investigations on import surges from China. H.R. 3273 would expand U.S. export
promotion programs to boost exports to China. Finally, numerous bills have been
introduced to address concerns over unsafe imports (including from China).
This report examines major U.S.-China trade issues and will be updated as
events warrant.
Contents
U.S. Trade with China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Major U.S. Exports to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Major U.S. Imports from China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Major U.S.-China Trade Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Health and Safety Concerns Over Certain Imports from China . . . . . . . . . . . 8
China's Poor Regulatory System and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
China's Currency Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Bush Administration's Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
China Changes its Currency Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
China and the World Trade Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
WTO Implementation Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
U.S. WTO Cases Against China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Violations of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
History of U.S. Efforts to Improve China's IPR Regime . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Scope of the IPR Piracy Problem in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The U.S. Files Two WTO Cases Against China on IPR . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Applying U.S. Countervailing Laws to China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Textile and Apparel Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
U.S.-China Trade Legislation in the 110th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Currency Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Other Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
List of Tables
Table 1. U.S. Merchandise Trade with China: 1980-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Table 2. U.S. Merchandise Trade Balances with Major Trading Partners:2007 . . . .. . . . . . . . . 3
Table 3. Major U.S. Exports to China: 2003-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Table 4. U.S. Merchandise Exports to Major Trading Partners in 2001 and 2007 . .. . . . . . . . . 4
Table 5. Top Five U.S. Imports from China: 2003-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Table 6. Major Foreign Suppliers of U.S. Computer Equipment Imports: 2000-2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:26 AM
