Senators urge China to reduce trade barriers for US products

Several senators on Tuesday urged China to reduce trade barriers for agricultural products that could lead to upward of $5.2 billion in U.S. agricultural exports to China, following a report detailing restrictions on American goods. 

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Finance ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) cited findings in a U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) report they requested, outlining the tariff-based and non-tariff barriers that China puts on U.S. agricultural products, reducing exports between an estimated $3.9 billion and $5.2 billion. 

“China is our number one market for U.S. agricultural product exports, but China’s unjustified trade barriers are blocking some of our goods such as wheat and beef and hurting job growth in the U.S,” Baucus said in a statement. “We need to hold China accountable to its international agreements so American ranchers and farmers can compete on a level playing with their world-class, safe agricultural products.”

The ITC report found that U.S. exports to China are concentrated in just a few commodities — primarily soybeans and cotton.

The report found that Chinese government support for the agriculture sector boosts the competitiveness of Chinese agricultural products relative to U.S. products, putting restrictions on exports including pork, beef and corn.  

That and other non-tariff barriers effectively prohibit imports of certain products, including meat products along with strawberries, apples and fresh potatoes.  

The communist nation also has cited food safety concerns, leading to a ban of U.S. beef and significant restrictions on other agricultural products.

"It is imperative that China drop these barriers and further open its market to American agricultural goods,” Hatch said. “Over the coming months, I will review China’s progress in further opening its market to U.S. agricultural products consistent with its international obligations."

Although China’s agricultural tariffs are significantly higher than those of the United States, the report found that China’s average agricultural tariffs are relatively low in comparison to some other trading partners of the United States.  

Yet China’s restrictive and non-transparent tariff rate quotas significantly limit imports of U.S. rice, wheat and other products. 

“In joining the World Trade Organization, China committed to adhering to international trade rules,” Grassley said. “These rules include eliminating non-tariff trade barriers that have no basis in science or that exist just to prop up a domestic industry at the exclusion of trade partners."

The report notes that China imports more food than it exports, and will likely continue that practice, in part because demand is expected to outpace domestic production. 

The report also finds that Chinese consumers typically view imported food as being of a higher quality and as safer than domestically produced food.