Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: The three sectors were identified in a Comprehensive Economic Dialogue recently held in Washington.
The inaugural China-U.S. Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) was recently held in Washington, D.C. It is one of four major dialogue mechanisms the two countries established in April during the Mar-a-Lago meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump.
In the first round of CED, China agreed to further open its service sector and expand the bilateral trade of services with the U.S. China has been trying to shift its economic growth toward a model powered by consumption, services and innovation. The service sector accounted for more than half of the Chinese economy last year.
While the U.S. has already developed a robust and competitive service industry, China's service industry is still developing, especially when it comes to high-end services.
Despite a huge deficit in services trade with the U.S., China nevertheless believes that trade in services with the U.S. is mutually beneficial, and is willing to cooperate in this area.
As part of the effort to enhance bilateral trade in agricultural products, the two countries have reached an agreement on inspection and quarantine protocols for U.S. rice exports to China. Due to an absence of agricultural quarantine and inspection agreements, China had previously banned U.S. rice imports, and this will be the first time U.S. rice exporters are allowed to sell into China.
China is the world’s largest rice importer, and the U.S. ranks third in rice exports. China imported around 5 million metric tons of rice last year, mainly from Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. This change will offer U.S. farmers, especially those in the major rice producing states, access to the world's largest rice consumer.
In terms of high-tech trade, the two countries also pledged to relax export controls, with two conditions: this trade is limited to non-military goods, and intellectual property rights will be protected. For many years, the U.S. has placed bans on the export of high-tech products to China, citing national security concerns.