China

Leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee on March 22 requested the Appropriations Committee give the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative $7 million more than President Obama's 2011 budget request in order to meet the administration's goals of increasing enforcement, specifically addressing Chinese trade problems, and doubling U.S. exports in the next five years.

A new report on Technical Barriers to Trade released by the Office of U.S. Trade Representative this week identifies seven emerging trends in TBT barriers, in which problems with the European Union and China figure heavily.

The Japanese government's annual trade barriers report released today (April 1) takes aim at China's "indigenous innovation" government procurement program and the U.S. Buy American provisions in the 2009 economic stimulus program. The report also notes that Japan is closely monitoring the possibility of border measures in connection with climate change legislation.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will announce early next week that its current chief counsel for China trade enforcement, Claire Reade, will become the new assistant USTR for China affairs, filling a key China trade post left vacant in early February when Timothy Stratford returned to the private sector, according to informed sources.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk last week held open the possibility that USTR could file a formal complaint in the World Trade Organization against Chinese restrictions under which wholly foreign-owned companies cannot supply credit card and electronic payment services through their own networks to Chinese customers in local currency.

A World Trade Organization interim panel ruling in the U.S., Japanese and Taiwanese case against the European Union over the implementation of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) has been delayed until the week of May 3, sources said this week. The confidential ruling to the parties was set to be released this week, but was delayed due to the complexity of the issues, sources said.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-MI) this week charged that China is manipulating the value of its currency, but declined to answer a question on whether he will urge the administration to list China as a currency manipulator in the Treasury Department's semi-annual report due out by April 15.

Trade issues with China are high in the minds of senators on the Finance Committee, judging by questions for the record posed to undersecretary of Commerce nominee Francisco Sanchez released by the committee on March 11.