AGRICULTURE The Agreement provides increased access for U.S. exports across a broad range of commodities and elimination of barriers. Commitments include:
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS China’s commitments will eliminate broad systemic barriers to U.S. exports, such as limits on who can import goods and distribute them in China as well as barriers such as quotas and licenses that restrict imports of U.S. products. TARIFFS
ELIMINATION OF QUOTAS AND LICENSES WTO rules bar quotas and other quantitative restrictions. China has agreed to eliminate these restrictions with phase-ins limited to five years.
RIGHT TO IMPORT AND DISTRIBUTE Trading rights and distribution are the major priority of the manufacturing sector. At present, China severely restricts trading rights (the right to import and export) and distribution (wholesaling, retailing, maintenance and repair, transportation, etc.). Under the Agreement, China will provide, for the first time, trading rights and distribution rights to U.S. firms. Trading rights will be progressively phased in over three years. Distribution rights will be provided even for China’s most restricted distribution sectors such as wholesale, transportation, maintenance and repair. China will provide for trading rights and distribution. SERVICES China has made commitments in all major service categories with reasonable transitions to eliminate most foreign equity restrictions (especially in sectors where the U.S. has a strong commercial interest), agreeing to accede to the Basic Telecommunications and Financial Services Agreements, and "grandfathering" of current market access for U.S. service providers. GRANDFATHERING China will grandfather all existing current market access and activities in all services sectors. This will protect existing American distribution services, financial services, professional and other service providers in China, including those operating under contractual or shareholder agreements or a license, from restrictions as Chinese commitments phase in. DISTRIBUTION In China today, foreign firms have no right to distribute products other than those they make in China, or to own or manage distribution networks, wholesaling outlets or warehouses. China also now frequently issues businesses licenses which limit the ability of American firms to conduct marketing, after-sales service, maintenance and repair and customer support. As the section on industrial goods noted, this is a severe barrier to goods exports as well as to service exports. China’s commitments address all these issues. They reflect a comprehensive commitment on distribution - including wholesaling, sales away from a fixed location, retailing, maintenance and repair, and transportation. Thus, Americans will be able to distribute imported products as well as those made in China, offering significant opportunity to expand U.S. exports of goods. As noted above, China will phase out all restrictions on distribution services for most products within three years. SERVICES AUXILIARY TO DISTRIBUTION Chinese commitments in services auxiliary to distribution include rental and leasing, air courier, freight forwarding, storage and warehousing, advertising, technical testing and analysis, and packaging services. All restrictions will be phased-out in 3 to 4 years, at which time U.S. service suppliers will be able to establish 100% wholly-owned subsidiaries. TELECOMMUNICATIONS China now severely restricts sales of telecommunications services and bars foreign investment. China’s commitments mark its first agreement to open its telecommunications sector, both to the scope of services and to direct investment in telecommunications businesses. Through these commitments, China will become a member of the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. Specific commitments include:
INSURANCE For insurance, China now restricts foreign companies to operating in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Under the agreement:
BANKING Currently foreign banks are not permitted to do local currency business with Chinese clients (a few can engage in local currency business with their foreign clients). China imposes severe geographic restrictions on the establishment of foreign banks.
SECURITIES China will permit minority foreign owned joint ventures to engage in fund management on the same terms as Chinese firms. As the scope of business expands for Chinese firms, foreign joint venture securities companies will enjoy the same expansion in scope of business. Minority joint ventures will be allowed to underwrite domestic securities issues and underwrite and trade in foreign currency denominated securities (debt and equity). PROFESSIONAL SERVICES In the professional services, China currently tightly restricts operation of foreign law firms and accounting firms. In the Agreement, China has provided a broad range of commitments, including on legal, accountancy, taxation, management consultancy, architecture, engineering, urban planning, medical and dental, computer-related services. China will permit foreign majority control except for practicing Chinese law (an exception common to many WTO members.) For accountancy, China has agreed to eliminate a mandatory localization requirement and will now allow unrestricted access to its market to professionals licensed and follow transparent procedures. AUDIOVISUAL China’s commitments cover the right to distribute video and sound recordings and cinema ownership and operation. For video and sound recordings, China will allow 49% foreign participation in joint ventures engaged in the distribution of these products. China has also agreed to import 40 films after accession growing to 50 films in three years, of which 20 films will be revenue sharing. TRAVEL AND TOURISM Hotels: China will allow unrestricted access to the Chinese market for hotel operators with the ability to set up 100% foreign owned hotels in 3 years, with majority ownership allowed upon accession. PROTOCOL PROVISIONS Commitments in China’s WTO Protocol and Working Party Report establish rights and obligations enforceable through WTO dispute settlement procedures. We have agreed on key provisions relating to antidumping and subsidies, protection against import surges, technology transfer requirements and offsets as well as practices of state-owned and state-invested enterprises. These rules are of special importance to U.S. workers and business. China has agreed to implement the TRIMs Agreement upon accession, eliminate and cease enforcing trade and foreign exchange balancing requirements, eliminate and cease enforcing local content requirements, refuse to enforce contracts imposing these requirements; and only impose or enforce laws or other provisions relating to the transfer of technology or other know-how, if they are in accordance with the WTO agreements on protection of intellectual property rights and trade-related investment measures. These provisions will also help protect American firms against forced technology transfers, as China has also agreed that, upon accession, it will not condition investment approvals, import licenses, or any other import approval process on performance requirements of any kind, including: local content requirements, offsets, transfer of technology, or requirements to conduct research and development in China. ANTIDUMPING AND SUBSIDIES METHODOLOGY The agreed protocol provisions ensure that American firms and workers will have strong protection against unfair trade practices including dumping and subsidies. The U.S. and China have agreed that we will be able to maintain our current antidumping methodology (treating China as a non-market economy) in future anti-dumping cases without risk of legal challenge. This provision will remain in force for 15 years after China’s accession to the WTO. Moreover, when we apply our countervailing duty law to China we will be able to take the special characteristics of China’s economy into account when we identify and measure any subsidy benefit that may exist. PRODUCT SPECIFIC SAFEGUARD The agreed provisions for the protocol package also ensure that American domestic firms and workers will have strong protection against rapid increases of imports. To do this, the Product-Specific Safeguard provision sets up a special mechanism to address increased imports that cause or threaten to cause market disruption to a U.S. industry. China is a major exporting country that enjoys open access to U.S. markets. This mechanism, which is in addition to other WTO Safeguards provisions, differs from traditional safeguard measures. It permits United States to address imports solely from China, rather than from the whole world, that are a significant cause of material injury through measures such as import restrictions. Moreover, the United States will be able to apply restraints unilaterally based on legal standards that are lower than those in the WTO Safeguards Agreement. This provision will remain in force for 12 years after China accedes to the WTO. STATE-OWNED AND STATE-INVESTED ENTERPRISES The Protocol addresses important issues related to the Chinese government’s involvement in the economy. China has agreed that it will ensure that state-owned and state-invested enterprises will make purchases and sales based solely on commercial considerations, such as price, quality, availability and marketability, provide U.S. firms with the opportunity to compete for sales and purchases on non-discriminatory terms and conditions. China has also agreed that it will not influence these commercial decisions (either directly or indirectly) except in a WTO consistent manner. With respect to applying WTO rules to state-owned and state-invested enterprises, we have clarified in several ways that these firms are subject to WTO disciplines. -Purchases of goods or services by these state-owned and state-invested enterprises do not constitute "government procurement" and thus are subject to WTO rules. -We have clarified the status of state-owned and state-invested enterprises under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. This will help ensure that we can effectively apply our trade law to these enterprises when it is appropriate to do so. TEXTILES China’s protocol package will include a provision drawn from our 1997 bilateral textiles agreement, which permits U.S. companies and workers to respond to increased imports of textile and apparel products. This textile safeguard will remain in the effect until December 31, 2008 which is after the WTO agreement on Textile and Clothing expires.
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WTO Ministerial Conference 1999
New ILO Convention Forms of Child Labor
Helping Poor Countries Gain Access to Affordable Medicines
Calls for Efforts in Benefits of Expanded Trade
Support for Enhanced Market Access
Expanded Opportunities through Agriculture Trade
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Summary of U.S.- China Bilateral Agreement
Trade and Ensuring a Healthy Environment
U.S. - China Bilateral WTO Agreement
Harley-Davidson: A Success Story
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Gene and Barshefsky Press Briefing
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