US China Agricultural Trade

Introduction: new page 1 agricultural products trade between the United States and China plays a very important role in the overall trade between the two countries Since China joined the World Trade Organization at the end of 2001, the United States has been hoping for a major breakthrough in agricultural trade between the two countries So what happened in 2002? On the first anniversary of China's accession to the WTO, the U.S trade representative of QCU submitted a report to the U.S Congress, which comprehensively analyzed China's implementation of its WTO commitments On the agricultural front, the report highlights both the progress and the shortcomings of China China has agreed to lower tariffs on agricultural products, which has led to a significant increase in exports of US beef, dairy products, almonds, oranges and other agricultural products to China At the same time, there are serious problems in other areas One of the most controversial issues is that in June 2001, shortly before China's accession to the WTO, China's Ministry of Agriculture issued and implemented new regulations on biotechnology restricting the import of genetic products QCU the most affected agricultural products in the United States are soybeans exported to China In March 2002, China agreed to issue a nine-month temporary license to the United States During the summit meeting between the leaders of the United States and China in October 2002, this issue was raised again China extended the U.S temporary license for another nine months However, due to China's implementation of this new regulation, the U.S soybean exports to China decreased significantly during 2001-2002 However, after the second extension of the temporary license, the export volume began to pick up The United States is concerned about when permanent licensing will be available and how China will comply with biotechnology regulations Wen Guanzhong, an economics professor at Trinity College of the United States, said that in the past, when China had a large demand for soybeans in the United States, it did not raise any objections, and now it may be more critical with European countries Another possible reason is to create barriers to trade Wen Guanzhong said that so many countries in the world use this reason as a trade barrier If China doesn't use it, it will suffer a lot, because when it exports, it will encounter people using this reason to block China's exports QCU China tariff rate quota system in 2002, the United States paid great attention to China's implementation of commitments related to tariff rate quota of bulk agricultural products Because this field is related to the export of wheat, corn, cotton and vegetable oil to the United States Wen Guanzhong said that China's tariff rate quota system refers to China's promise to provide foreign countries with a certain percentage of the annual import quota of agricultural products, which are imported with very low tariffs or even no tariffs The United States and China held a relevant negotiation in Geneva in September 2002 The United States believes that China's National Planning Commission has delayed the release of tariff rate quotas for agricultural products for about four months, while taking protectionist measures to maintain the monopoly status of state enterprises The United States believes that China's National Planning Commission is still operating according to China's imperfect rules, and its transparency has not been improved Once again, the distribution of tariff rate quota is unreasonably reserved for some domestic plus: factories and re export companies, and refuses to provide specific distribution quantity and the name of the distribution recipient Take cotton as an example More than 60% of the tariff rate quota is reserved for Chinese processing and re export companies These practices of China's State Planning Commission have undermined China's commitment to market access According to the agreement between the United States and China, China should gradually open up this part of its imports China's domestic private importers, American exporters, should be able to engage in this export How does China allocate this quota? It is a very sensitive question how many quotas can Chinese state-owned enterprises, private enterprises and American enterprises obtain respectively Wen said that since China has joined the WTO and has promised to abide by the rules of the WTO, he will probably gradually open up this part The United States said it will continue to closely monitor the development in this field in 2003 and will take necessary actions to promote China's full compliance with its commitments The export standard of QCU meat is too high In terms of health inspection standard of QCU, China issued a new regulation in 2002, forbidding the import of meat with disease source China's demand for imported meat is much higher than that for its own meat products: in fact, it is difficult for any country to achieve the absolute absence of pathogens in raw poultry and meat China's introduction of unscientific standards for U.S poultry and meat has slowed U.S exports Wen said most of the poultry exported from the United States are raw meat after slaughter It is too much for China to require that raw meat be free of pathogens However, according to Wen Guanzhong, the reason for China to do so is that its meat production is much higher than its own demand, but it cannot meet the international health standards and export a large amount of meat If we are faced with a large number of foreign meat imports, it will be a big blow to China's domestic breeding industry Therefore, China will set unrealistic standards to create trade barriers He said it is likely to be a card for China to prepare for negotiations Wen Guanzhong said: because all countries have very large restrictions on agricultural products The restrictions on agricultural products are much less than those in Western Europe and Japan Imports are freer than they are If China does not have its own card in the negotiation, it will be very unfavorable Delay hindering the import of agricultural products, said Wen Guanzhong Like other countries, China now makes some obstacles When negotiating, we will remove some obstacles to show our willingness to liberalize the trade of agricultural products Because the WTO will hold a new round of negotiations on agricultural products next year It is a bargaining card for China to put forward some of its own policies at this time But Cheng Xiaonong, editor in chief of contemporary China studies, thinks differently He believes that the main reason for the lack of competitiveness of China's agricultural products in the international market is the planned economy in the past In order to avoid the impact of opening up the agricultural products market on agriculture, some regulations formulated by China are actually aimed at the import of American agricultural products to resist the opening of the market Cheng Xiaonong said: it is to find some excuses, take advantage of some minor problems as opportunities, and then create some problems that are easy to cause disputes between the two sides through some back and forth compromises, negotiations and friction, and then achieve the goal of delaying and obstructing the opening of an agricultural product market through bargaining and concessions on these issues The purpose of the QCU negotiation itself is that the real purpose of China's accession to the WTO is not to open up the market of agricultural products, but to get rid of the political pressure of the United States on its trade with the United States, and to attract more foreign investment to help China out of its difficulties, said Cheng Jiannong, who is not optimistic about the prospect of us China trade In order to achieve the political and economic goals, we must make some concessions, such as opening the agricultural product market So this kind of concession must be limited, and the whole process is a kind of political skill Cheng Xiaonong said: negotiation is an end in itself He doesn't want to break through and achieve a result satisfactory to both sides Just like many border negotiations between China and its neighbors, they have been fruitless for decades, because the negotiation itself is the purpose He is not to solve the problem through negotiation, but to delay time through negotiation and create an atmosphere of being negotiated According to Cheng Xiaonong, it is precisely because of such a nature that the future friction between the United States and China in agriculture will continue to show benefits QcU