The United States and China are holding cabinet-level trade talks in California on Tuesday amid tensions over China's huge export surplus and an escalating World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over auto parts. U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab were hosting Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan for the one-day meeting at the Richard Nixon presidential library in Yorba Linda. Gutierrez and Schwab will co-chair the talks with Wang, who heads Chinese economic and trade affairs. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer also will participate in the session. The meeting marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, a bilateral dialogue usually held in Beijing and Washington. The Commerce Department said last week the agenda would focus on market access, intellectual-property rights, and transparency. But bilateral trade tensions escalated Monday after the WTO said that China had appealed the trade body's July decision that its tariffs on auto-part imports were “inconsistent” with established rules. The Chinese appeal came just before the WTO's dispute-settlement office was scheduled to formally adopt the ruling on auto-part imports. The United States, Canada, and the European Union had filed the WTO complaint against China.
