China and the US resolved several thorny trade disputes on Thursday even as Beijing confirmed it was investigating potential dumping of US-made cars in the Chinese market.
At a high-level meeting of officials from both countries in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, China said it would allow US pork imports and relax restrictions on wind power components and government procurement rules.
Thursday's meeting comes three weeks before the first visit to China of President Barack Obama and against a backdrop persistent trade tensions, concerns about the strength of the US economy and renewed criticism of China's currency policy.
Last month Mr Obama imposed a 35 per cent duty on imports of Chinese tyres and Beijing responded by launching anti-dumping investigations into US imports of auto parts and poultry.
Chen Deming, China's commerce minister, said on Thursday that Beijing would investigate imports of US-made cars to China as a result of the huge state financial aid that Washington had given this year to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
However, lawyers said the new cars investigation was mostly symbolic given the modest size of the imports at about 40,000 vehicles a year. GM said it had sold 13,859 imported cars in China so far this year, compared to total sales in China of 1.29m vehicles in the first nine months of the year.
Mr Chen said Washington acknowledged that placing curbs on Chinese imports was not the best way to deal with China's large trade surplus. "The two [countries] have agreed that the solution to the trade gap between the United States and China is not to restrict imports from China but to promote balance," he said.
The minister added that the US had agreed to set up a joint working group to analyse the issue of awarding "market economy status" to China, a perennial demand from Beijing in bilateral talks that would make it harder for the US to accuse China of dumping.
Chinese officials said Beijing would lift a ban on imports of pork from the US which had been in place since the outbreak of swine flu in the spring, although they did not say when imports would start.
"I hope pork imports can resume quickly but I also hope that the US will follow Chinese requirements to credibly ensure the quality, safety and health of pork imports to China," said Sun Zhengcai, China's agriculture minister.
Zhang Guobao, head of the National Energy Administration, said China would remove its local content requirement in tenders for wind power equipment, potentially giving US companies better access to China's booming wind power market.
Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, said China had agreed to treat joint venture companies involving the two countries as local businesses in government procurement contracts, which he said was one of the priorities of US businesses in this round of talks.
China would also submit an offer to join the World Trade Organisation's government procurement agreement by 2010, Mr Kirk said.
© The Financial Times Limited 2009
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