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 Date:1/30/2009

 

It's Your Call
Rules of Engagement
U.S. China Business Council calls for expanded engagement with China.

The US-China Business Council (USCBC) and its member companies have launched an initiative to help inform key decisions on the United States’ trade agenda with China in the coming years.

“America’s constructive relationship with China is vitally important to our economic health,” USCBC Chairman Andrew Liveris said. Liveris, chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company, continued, “USCBC and its nearly 250 companies are in a unique position to promote the real-world, positive perspective on engagement with China, demonstrating the day-to-day value that Americans derive from this critical and mutually beneficial relationship.”

“America’s current economic challenges may cause temporary shifts in US trade with China, but the long-term trends are clear – and the need for a clear-headed, stable approach to China is more important than ever,” said USCBC President John Frisbie. “USCBC’s initiative describes in plain English the facts about US trade with China, how we can best advance our economic and commercial interests, and what should be done to resolve the existing irritants.”

According to the council’s briefing document, in contacts with Beijing, the U.S. should:


  • Build on the successful foundation of the first years of the Strategic Economic Dialogue. Whatever it might be called, there is no substitute for regular, high-level, forward looking engagement between top-level economic, trade, and other officials on major issues such as energy, the environment, food and product safety, financial and currency policies, global economics, and open investment environments.

  • Keep pressing forward for a rules-based trading relationship, through bilateral contacts and established legal channels such as the World Trade Organization.

  • Ensure the continued opening of China’s economy in order to accelerate the rapid growth of U.S. exports to China and enhance the role of U.S. companies selling goods and services in the Chinese market. This helps U.S. companies and workers by bolstering the job base in the United States. It also brings U.S. business standards and practices to China.

  • Work to bring China into a constructive and more participative role on global economic issues.


On the home front, the U.S. should:


  • Further strengthen the leadership role of U.S. companies in the international economy, especially in technologies and sectors that will become global 21st century leaders.

  • Take steps to bolster the long-term competitiveness of the US economy by adopting smart policies on energy, education, healthcare, and innovation.

  • Help displaced workers transition to growth sectors of the US economy with cost-effective programs that provide the tools to succeed in the international economy.


The briefing document is available at www.uschina.org/public/documents/2009/china_policy_recommendations.pdf and will be circulated to the incoming presidential administration, new members of the US Congress, and throughout the United States through USCBC member companies.

“The United States has an opportunity to build on 30 years of engagement to promote an enduring and constructive relationship with China,” Liveris said. “To reach that goal, we need policies that are based on facts, not fears, and that bolster and build upon the strengths of US companies.”

The USCBC (www.uschina.org) is the leading organization of US companies engaged in business with the People's Republic of China. Founded in 1973, the USCBC provides extensive China-focused information, advisory, and advocacy services, along with events, to roughly 250 US corporations operating within the United States and throughout Asia.