Co-Chairs of U.S.-China Working Group Call on President for Stronger Economic Engagement with China
WASHINGTON, D.C.— As President Obama begins his visit to the leader’s meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, the Co-Chairs of the U.S.-China Working Group released a letter sent to President Obama on October 31, 2014, which asked the President to continue strengthening economic ties with China. Senator Mark Kirk (IL), Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02), and Rep. Charles Boustany (LA-03) urged the President in a letter to focus on policies that will advance trade and commercial relationships between the world’s two biggest economies, including progress on the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), meeting China's World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, and facilitating travel and tourism between our countries.
The Co-Chairs welcomed the President's announcement today of a reciprocal agreement between U.S. and China that will extend business and tourism visas to ten years from the current one-year term, as the Co-Chair's letter requested.
“The opportunities for increased economic engagement between the U.S. and China hold vast potential to grow both economies. We encourage the President to pursue a strong bilateral trade agreement that opens doors for U.S. companies to enter Chinese markets, and to facilitate more travel between our two countries. These actions will help our businesses and create jobs here at home,” said Kirk, Larsen, and Boustany.
The full text of the letter is below.
October 31, 2014
The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As Co-Chairs of the U.S.-China Working Group in both the Senate and the House, we respectfully urge you to continue your work in strengthening and intensifying bilateral economic engagement with China during your visit to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on November 10-11 in Beijing. As the world’s two largest economies, it is vital that the U.S. and China pursue a constructive agenda that will create economic opportunities and job growth in both countries.
China’s remarkable economic growth continues to create tremendous opportunities for American companies to expand to China and create new jobs for America’s exporters. It is estimated that China’s middle class is larger than America’s entire population, and will consume goods and services valued at $3.4 trillion by 2022. Our businesses and exporters have taken advantage of this historic opportunity, to mutual benefit to both the U.S. and China. Over the last decade, U.S. exports to China increased a staggering 255 percent, from $33.7 billion in 2004 to $120 billion in 2013. According to the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), in 2013, exports to China supported nearly 800,000 American jobs. In turn, trade with the U.S. created 11.4 million jobs in China in 2010.
Therefore, we urge you to use your leadership at APEC to drive policies that will significantly advance trade and commercial ties between the U.S. and China. First, we ask you to press Chinese leaders to commit to timely negotiation of a high-standard and meaningful U.S.-China Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and to make a high quality negative list offer with only limited and transparent exceptions to coverage. Currently, the Chinese government restricts U.S. investment in over 100 industry sectors - including manufacturing, services, and agriculture - and often imposes onerous conditions for U.S. businesses, such as mandating local sourcing or technology transfers. Under a strong BIT, China would be obligated to treat U.S. companies the same as Chinese companies, thus significantly leveling the playing field for American businesses in China.
We also urge you to reiterate that China should seek to significantly reduce foreign investment barriers immediately, rather than waiting until a BIT is finalized. Positive and timely action by China will significantly help build confidence in the U.S. Congress that China is genuinely committed to market reforms, helping to pave the way for Congressional approval of BIT.
Second, we encourage you to focus on facilitating travel and tourism between the U.S. and China by seeking reciprocal endorsement for establishing five-year, multiple entry visas between our countries. Increased tourism from China would create American jobs and bring significant benefits to our economy. According to the ITA, in 2013, 1.8 million Chinese visitors came to the United States and spent $9.8 billion, which supported more than 50,000 American jobs. However, this represents only a small fraction of China’s travelers: according to China’s tourism authorities, 116 million Chinese are expected to travel overseas this year, spending approximately $155 billion. It is our hope that extending a 5-year visa to Chinese visitors and continuing to cut down on current visa processing times at U.S. diplomatic facilities will help us capture more of this vital travel market.
Third, we urge you to impress upon China’s leaders that hosting APEC this year provides an important opportunity for Beijing to show leadership on global economic and trade issues. This leadership could be demonstrated by positive measures such as reducing China’s list of sensitivities in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Information Technology Agreement negotiations, commitment to join the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement under meaningful terms, and demonstrable progress on respecting international intellectual property rights norms.
Mr. President, your visit to APEC and especially the bilateral meeting with President Xi Jinping represents a unique opportunity to achieve progress on growing economic ties between the world’s two economic superpowers. We respectfully ask you to respond to us in writing with a firm commitment to raise issues outlined in this letter at APEC, which will help advance bilateral relations, help American businesses, and create jobs at home.
Sincerely,
Mark Kirk
U.S. Senator
Rick Larsen
Member of Congress
Charles Boustany
Member of Congress