Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 1/12/17


Exports of U.S. goods and services to China remain dramatically strong, but the overall picture in terms of China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) are still “complex,” according to a report from the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office.

The value of U.S. goods exported to China reached $116 billion in 2015 – the latest year available – up 505 percent from 2001, when China agreed to comply with WTO rules as a condition of membership. U.S. services exported to China reached $48 billion in 2015, an increase of 802 percent since 2001, the USTR reported.

China has successfully implemented specific trade commitments in increments over the last 16 years and all of those key issues were implemented by the end of 2016, the U.S. agency said.

However, USTR labeled the overall picture with China as “complex,” primarily because of the Chinese government’s “interventionist policies and practices” and the large role of state-owned businesses that “continue to generate significant trade distortions that inevitably give rise to trade friction,” the report noted. U.S. officials would like China to allow for market forces to play a larger role in how the export relationship moves forward and to reduce market access barriers currently being faced by producers of foreign goods and services.

The report specifically notes that market access for U.S. beef, pork and poultry is an area that needs improvement. China, for example, continued to block U.S. beef and beef products nine years after the products were declared safe. China also imposed several bans of U.S. poultry in light of avian influenza outbreaks over the last 16 years. USTR is recommending that U.S. officials continue to “vigorously pursue increased benefits” for U.S. businesses, farmers and service providers and to invoke the WTO dispute settlement mechanism should conditions in China fail to change.

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