US opposes 27.5 pct tariff on China-made goods

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 12, 2003

US opposes 27.5 pct tariff on China-made goods

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The Bush administration opposes the Congress bills of imposing a 27.5 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods or repealing permanent normal trade relations with China, US Ambassador to China Clark Randt said in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Making speech at a luncheon, Clark Randt said US President George W. Bush "wants a candid, cooperative and constructive relationship with China," which is "emerging as a responsible major player on the global economic and political scene."

"These were his (Bush's) instruction to me when I assumed the position well over two years ago, and they are still the same today," Clark Randt, who is on a visit here, said.

The Ambassador said China now is a country that is actively engaged with the international community. For instance, "we are also having constructive talks with China on such critical global issues as the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq environmental protection, sustainable development, clean energy, climate change, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, HIV-AIDS and SARS," he said.

A major lynchpin of the US-China relationship is the important, broad ranging and mutually beneficial bilateral economic and trade relationship, Clark Randt noted.

China has been the fastest growing export market of the United States in the recent two years. In 2002, China was the United States' 7th largest export market, and is likely to be the 6th largest this year, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

Regarding the growing trade imbalance between the two countries, Clark Randt said "it has given rise in Washington to questions of basic fair play." He said US Congress has recently introduced a number of bills over the issue.

There is a saying recently that the current US trade deficit to China was relevant to China's policy on its RMB currency, which isunfair to other countries' export. But many, including some US experts, deny the concepts, saying US trade deficit to China was mainly caused by the decline of the competitiveness of US enterprises and that American products are becoming more and more expensive.

Clark Randt said the US government continues to work with China to try to handle the issue, so as to "ensure that our economic andtrade relations benefit the people and workers of both countries."

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