Agreement reached in several areas of importance to U.S. farmers, innovators, manufacturers and workers U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today hosted a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Yang for the 25th session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT), which took place in Chicago. At the conclusion of the discussions, the United States announced key outcomes in the areas of agricultural market access, intellectual property rights protection, innovation policies, and competition law enforcement.
Specific outcomes of today’s meetings are described below. For further information on outcomes from the meetings, click here.
Today’s negotiations followed a full day of events designed to facilitate private sector engagement with officials from the U.S. and China in a reinvigorated JCCT. Yesterday’s program included a roundtable discussion on bilateral investment hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Paulson Institute; a luncheon to celebrate the Gateway Cities partnership hosted by World Business Chicago; a cooperative travel and tourism program hosted by the U.S. Travel Association; and a discussion on developing a shared vision of economic leadership hosted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus also participated in this year’s JCCT.
“The JCCT is the time and place for the U.S. and China to address issues of mutual concern so we can get more business done between our two countries,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. “While we enjoy a robust trade relationship with China – our exports were $161 billion in 2013 – there is more we can do to facilitate greater cooperation between our governments and our private sectors. This year we sought to ‘reimagine’ the JCCT to engage businesses from both countries in a dialogue about how to strengthen the trade and investment relationship between the world’s two largest economies, and we made significant progress.” “This year’s JCCT produced concrete results. We achieved progress on tough issues that American exporters face in our largest export market outside North America,” said U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman. “The benefits will be felt around the country, in our agricultural heartland, in high-tech from medicines to semiconductors, in the creative industries, and in many other sectors that support good-paying jobs across our economy.” “The vice ministerial-level Strategic Agricultural Innovation Dialogue that we agreed to will begin early next year with multiple Chinese ministries,” said Secretary Vilsack. “These discussions will showcase U.S. innovation and create new economic opportunities in a wide range of agricultural industries, while addressing food security, climate change and environmental protection.” The JCCT holds high-level plenary meetings on an annual basis to review progress made by 16 working groups that meet throughout the year to focus on a wide variety of trade and investment issues. These working groups address topics such as intellectual property rights, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, information technology, tourism, commercial law, environment and statistics.
Established in 1983, the JCCT is the primary forum for addressing bilateral trade and investment issues and promoting commercial opportunities between the United States and China. The 2013 JCCT meeting was held in Beijing.
Overview of JCCT Discussions Through sustained engagement over the course of this past year, the United States and China have reached agreement in several areas of key importance to U.S. farmers, innovators, manufacturers and workers, including in the following areas:
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
