The Economy

Portman: China Needs To Do More On Trade

July 11, 2005

U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez came away from their July 11 talks with Chinese officials in Beijing with Portman saying although some progress on bilateral trade issues had been made, "our work is far ...

John McClenahen

Portman reported progress on Chinese enforcement of U.S. intellectual property rights, the delaying of what the U.S. regards as restrictive software regulations, and the strengthening of U.S. access to Chinese markets.

According to a fact sheet released by Portman's office, during a meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) China, among other things, agreed to take eight steps to reduce infringement of U.S. intellectual property rights; to hold off on software regulations as it "further considers" public comments and makes revisions consistent with rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO); and to further discuss U.S. access to the Chinese insurance and telecom markets.

China also pledged to provide the WTO with a "detailed" list of its subsidies by the end of this year and to work with the U.S. on anti-dumping issues.

"U.S. companies continue to face serious problems in China, particularly with respect to the protection of intellectual property and reciprocal market access," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Washington, D.C.

"But the JCCT appears to have move the ball downfield in several key areas," he added. "China's commitment to increase criminal prosecutions for counterfeiting is certainly welcome," he said. Vargo also welcomed JCCT agreement that China would create an office in its embassy in Washington, D.C., to handled the counterfeiting problems that smaller U.S. companies confront. "This was a top priority for the NAM, and we'll now seek a cooperative private sector-government program to more effectively focus on the costly counterfeiting problems of small U.S. exporters," he said.

About the Author

John McClenahen | Former Senior Editor, IndustryWeek

John S. McClenahen, is an occasional essayist on the Web site of IndustryWeek, the executive management publication from which he retired in 2006. He began his journalism career as a broadcast journalist at Westinghouse Broadcasting’s KYW in Cleveland, Ohio. In May 1967, he joined Penton Media Inc. in Cleveland and in September 1967 was transferred to Washington, DC, the base from which for nearly 40 years he wrote primarily about national and international economics and politics, and corporate social responsibility.

      McClenahen, a native of Ohio now residing in Maryland, is an award-winning writer and photographer. He is the author of three books of poetry, most recently An Unexpected Poet (2013), and several books of photographs, including Black, White, and Shades of Grey (2014). He also is the author of a children’s book, Henry at His Beach (2014).

      His photograph “Provincetown: Fog Rising 2004” was selected for the Smithsonian Institution’s 2011 juried exhibition Artists at Work and displayed in the S. Dillon Ripley Center at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., from June until October 2011. Five of his photographs are in the collection of St. Lawrence University and displayed on campus in Canton, New York.

      John McClenahen’s essay “Incorporating America: Whitman in Context” was designated one of the five best works published in The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies during the twelve-year editorship of R. Barry Leavis of Rollins College. John McClenahen’s several journalism prizes include the coveted Jesse H. Neal Award. He also is the author of the commemorative poem “Upon 50 Years,” celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Wolfson College Cambridge, and appearing in “The Wolfson Review.”

      John McClenahen received a B.A. (English with a minor in government) from St. Lawrence University, an M.A., (English) from Western Reserve University, and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University, where he also pursued doctoral studies. At St. Lawrence University, he was elected to academic honor societies in English and government and to Omicron Delta Kappa, the University’s highest undergraduate honor. John McClenahen was a participant in the 32nd Annual Wharton Seminars for Journalists at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. During the Easter Term of the 1986 academic year, John McClenahen was the first American to hold a prestigious Press Fellowship at Wolfson College, Cambridge, in the United Kingdom.

      John McClenahen has served on the Editorial Board of Confluence: The Journal of Graduate Liberal Studies and was co-founder and first editor of Liberal Studies at Georgetown. He has been a volunteer researcher on the William Steinway Diary Project at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and has been an assistant professorial lecturer at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.