CRI听力:Sino-US Trade Tensions Increase

The latest actions adopted by the United States show that Chinese enterprises are facing growing US trade protectionism.

The US has launched anti-dumping investigations against Chinese solar panel manufacturers, after seven US solar energy companies asked the US Commerce Department to impose duties of more than 100 percent on their Chinese competitors.

And more recently, Chinese solar panel manufacturer Canadian Solar received a letter from the United States International Trade Commission, saying Westinghouse Solar, a US solar equipment maker, had complained to ITC that Canadian Solar had infringed on its patents, and demanded a permanent order barring some of their products from entering the US market.

A spokeswoman Xing Tianying from Canadian Solar referred to Westinghouse Solar's patent infringement accusations as "groundless."

"The patent that Westinghouse Solar has is the locking mechanism between solar panels, and what we are producing is one of the panels. It's like they have patent for a button, and they are accusing us of infringement for producing the fabric with a button hole in it."

Besides the dispute between solar companies, the US continues to investigate wind tower imports from China, pressuring the Chinese yuan to appreciate. US President Barack Obama took the quickly escalating trade disputes to a different level. During his State of the Union address, he launched a trade enforcement unit targeting China.

"I will not stand by when our competitors don't play by the rules. We've brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration. But we need to do more, tonight we are announcing the creation of a trade enforcement unit that would be charged with investigating unfair trading practices in countries like China."

On the other hand, China also complains about restrictions on US exports of high-tech products to China and hurdles to Chinese investment in the US. According to Tao Wenzhao, senior research fellow at the Institute of American studies of the Chinese academy of Social Sciences, US exports of high-tech products to China have actually decreased in proportion over the years.

"At the beginning of this century, the high-tech imports from the United States accounted for more than 16 percent of China's import of high-tech (products), but last year, the high tech imports from the US accounted for only 6 percent of the China's high-tech imports total."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, urges both countries to put effort into increasing China-US economic and trade cooperation.

"China-US economic and trade cooperation are mutually beneficial. Both parties should try to resolve relevant problems through dialogue and consultation. We do not wish to politicize trade issues."

A Morgan Stanley report shows that 4 to 8 million jobs in the US are closely tied to Sino-US trade, at the same time, the US is the biggest source of China's foreign investment.

Although trade tensions between China and the United States may be exacerbated by the global financial outlook and US election politics, Professor Tao Wenzhou hopes the visit by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping can remove some obstacles.

"Trade imbalance between China and the US has been there for quite some time, and we hope this visit will urge the United States to take some concrete measures to balance bilateral trade."

For CRI, this is Ding Lulu.