Max Baucus: “this week the United States Trade Representative will conduct a set of talks on China's accession to the World Trade…”

“this week the United States Trade Representative will conduct a set of talks on China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Their results will have a great effect on our trade policy for years to come. So this afternoon I want to take a few minutes to discuss the reason these talks are important, the state of United States-China trade, and a strategy that can help improve the situation. The reason these talks are important is simple. China is a big market, a big exporter, and a country with which we have a large and difficult trade agenda. By virtue of population, only India equals China as a potential export market. And China's economic growth, at nearly 10 percent a year throughout this decade, is unmatched in the world. Much of this growth has come from trade. Twenty years ago, China barely participated in world trade. It is now the world's sixth largest trader and is now our third largest source of imports after Canada and Japan. If you count Hong Kong together with China, the figures are even more impressive. But our American export performance to China is very poor. The Commerce Department reports $11.7 billion in goods exported in 1995, $12 billion in 1996, and on track for the same level this year. Adding exports of services, the total is about $2 billion larger, but the trends are no better. By contrast, our exports to the rest of the world have grown by 18 percent since 1995.”