China rips U.S. trade bill, will not adjust currency
China rips U.S. trade bill, will not adjust currency
A U.S. trade bill targeting Chinese imports goes against international rules, China’s commerce minister said today, and Beijing will not adjust the value of its currency to try to bridge a trade deficit he said is Washington’s problem to fix, Reuters reported.
President Barack Obama is set to sign the bill into law to allow duties to be imposed on subsidized goods from China and Vietnam, which the White House says will protect American jobs.
“We follow the rules of the (World Trade Organization), but we have no obligation to follow domestic laws or regulations in any specific country that go beyond international rules,” Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a news conference on the sidelines of an annual meeting of China’s parliament.
He said China had done a better job of bringing balance to global trade than the United States, bringing its trade surplus down to 2.1 percent of economic output in 2011 while the trade deficit of the United States was 4.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
“Why did the U.S. have a $700 billion overall trade deficit? Why did China have an overall trade surplus of only $150 billion but a trade surplus of $200 billion with the United States?” Chen responded rhetorically to a journalist’s question.
Chen’s comments come a day after Congress passed the bill that Obama is set to sign into law. A U.S. court ruled in December that the U.S. Commerce Department did not have authority to impose countervailing — or anti-subsidy — duties on goods from “non-market economies.”
China’s total trade surplus shrank 15 percent in 2011 versus 2010 to $155 billion, largely as a result of stalling demand in its two biggest markets with the European Union hobbled by a debt crisis and U.S. consumer spending below par.
A U.S. trade bill targeting Chinese imports goes against international rules, China’s commerce minister said today, and Beijing will not adjust the value of its currency to try to bridge a trade deficit he said is Washington’s problem to fix, Reuters reported.
President Barack Obama is set to sign the bill into law to allow duties to be imposed on subsidized goods from China and Vietnam, which the White House says will protect American jobs.
“We follow the rules of the (World Trade Organization), but we have no obligation to follow domestic laws or regulations in any specific country that go beyond international rules,” Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a news conference on the sidelines of an annual meeting of China’s parliament.
He said China had done a better job of bringing balance to global trade than the United States, bringing its trade surplus down to 2.1 percent of economic output in 2011 while the trade deficit of the United States was 4.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
“Why did the U.S. have a $700 billion overall trade deficit? Why did China have an overall trade surplus of only $150 billion but a trade surplus of $200 billion with the United States?” Chen responded rhetorically to a journalist’s question.
Chen’s comments come a day after Congress passed the bill that Obama is set to sign into law. A U.S. court ruled in December that the U.S. Commerce Department did not have authority to impose countervailing — or anti-subsidy — duties on goods from “non-market economies.”
China’s total trade surplus shrank 15 percent in 2011 versus 2010 to $155 billion, largely as a result of stalling demand in its two biggest markets with the European Union hobbled by a debt crisis and U.S. consumer spending below par.
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