Asia > Eastern Asia > China > United States sees China investment talks ‘productive’ after new offers

China: United States sees China investment talks ‘productive’ after new offers

2016/06/20

Bilateral investment talks between the United States and China “continue to be productive,” the US Trade Representative’s office said on Friday next the two sides exchanged new offers this week.

A USTR spokeswoman said US and Chinese negotiators exchanged revised “negative lists” of sectors that would remain off-limits from foreign investment as they try to reach a transaction for a bilateral investment treaty.

“China will need to demonstrate the substantial liberalization of its investment market, ensure that U.S. firms can compete on a level playing field, and address other key priorities to facilitate the evolution and successful conclusion of a mutually beneficial and high standard BIT,” the USTR spokeswoman said in a statement.

Obama government officials and US companies have complained that China has over 100 sectors of its economy closed to US investment and that these must be narrowed substantially to reach a treaty transaction.

Chinese officials have said that US security reviews of Chinese acquisitions of American firms are too onerous, particularly for investment in high-technology sectors.

The USTR statement did not specify any new sectors that China had offered to open to US investment or divulge other details of Beijing’s new offer.

US businesses have complained about Chinese ownership restrictions in key areas such as financial services, health insurance, agriculture, and audio-visual, while the Chinese side has complained about limited market access in certain US sectors such as transportation, radio communications, natural resources and high-technology companies.

US Treasury Secretary Jack Lewd on Thursday said that “the jury is still out” on the merits of China’s new negative inventory, and that Beijing’s negotiating stance in the bilateral investment treaty talks were “one significant barometer” in China’s commitment to reform its economy and open it to foreign competition..

Lewd as well has said that time was running short to complete a treaty transaction during the final months of the Obama government and that an optimum time to reach an agreement was prior to a G20 leaders summit in China in early September.

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