China Major Focus in Annual Report On US Trade Barriers

Chinese trade practices, such as excess capacity, forced technology transfer and online piracy is a major focus in the 2017 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, issued by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The report lists major problems posed for U.S. exports and investments on a country-by-country basis with the intention of reducing barriers and opening markets to U.S. goods and services.The 19 pages in the report devoted to China includes the lack of access for U.S. beef, and will provide ammunition for President Donald Trump and his trade team when they meet their Chinese counterparts April 6-7 in Florida.Regarding China, the following are two commentaries from the report:Agricultural Biotechnology: Overall delays in China’s approval process for agricultural products derived from biotechnology worsened in 2016, creating increased uncertainty among traders and resulting in adverse trade impact, particularly for U.S. exports of corn. In addition, the asynchrony between China’s product approvals and the product approvals made by other countries widened. China has made repeated bilateral commitments to work with the U.S. and to improve its approval process, without demonstrable progress. Currently, eight products of importance to U.S. export interests are awaiting biotechnology approvals in China.Beef: China’s longstanding import ban on U.S. beef creates a significant trade barrier that appears to lack scientific justification and consistency with international standards. Even though the U.S. is internationally recognized by the World Organization on Animal Health (OIE) as one of the safest producers of beef and has “negligible risk” status, China has banned imports of U.S. beef since 2003, and it is seeking to impose onerous requirements on future imports of U.S. beef, including full traceability of the cow from birth farm to slaughter facility.