2010-03-26 12:58

WASHINGTON - A stable US-China trade and economic environment will benefit both countries, a view shared by some US industry and business representatives after their meeting with a visiting Chinese business delegation over the past two days.

Dialogue and communication is the most effective way to solve trade and economic issues, said members from seven US industry organizations, including US Chamber of Commerce, US-China Trade Commission, US Information Technology Office and Honeywell Inc.

Led by Zhang Yujing, president of China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME),the visiting Chinese business leaders expressed concern and dissatisfaction with their US counterparts over recent US protectionism actions.

Under the pressure of the election year and high unemployment rate, some US senators last week proposed a legislation to press China to appreciate its currency.

The bill requires that the US Treasury Department identify countries with "fundamentally misaligned currencies" and asks the Commerce Department to investigate currency undervaluation as a "countervailable subsidy."

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan, who held talks in Washington with his American counterparts in the past two days, said that China's currency revaluation is not the key to solve the US-China trade imbalance.

The US business representatives said that export restriction is a major factor that impacts US trade with China. They expressed the belief that loosening export restriction is an effective way to expand US export to China.

Their views are echoed by US House Representative Solomon Ortiz, who said that it is not wise for the United States to threaten China on the currency issue.

He said that the legislators who proposed the Chinese Currency Manipulation bill have little knowledge about China. The bill feeds the political need in the November mid-term election.

Ortiz noted that trade and economic frictions can only be solved through continuous cooperation between the two countries.