ZCZC
BCN-17
US-CHINA-TRADE
U.S.-China trade forum held amid trade disputes
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – U.S.-China Agriculture Food
Trade Forum was held Thursday in the western U.S. state of California,
focusing on the promotion of marketing communication and cooperation between
the agriculture and food industry of the two countries amid Washington-
triggered trade tensions.
The event, jointly hosted by the Representative Office in the United
States by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT)
and the China Certification and Inspection Group, CCIC North America Inc.,
attracted around 200 representatives from both countries.
“China’s market need for soybeans and other U.S. agricultural products is
huge and strong, but because of the trade conflicts between the two
countries, people are now worried about the decline of the exports of U.S.
agricultural products to China. That’s one of the reasons why we are gathered
here,” said Zhao Zhenge, general representative of CCPIT Representative
Office in the United States.
“We all agree that the trade war will hurt both of us, not only Chinese
companies and consumers but also American farmers, suppliers and consumers,”
he added.
Founded in 1952, CCPIT is a national foreign trade and investment
promotion agency of China.
“This is the kind of interaction our business and our two countries need.
This is the positive attitude and positive energy we are all longing for,
especially in the current situation of U.S.-China relationship,” said Liu
Haiyan, commercial counselor of China’s Consulate General in Los Angeles.
“Agriculture is one of the earliest sectors of China-U.S. economic and
trade cooperation. China is now an important market for U.S. agriculture
produce,” he noted.
According to Chinese customs statistics, China-U.S. agriculture trade in
2017 reached 31.8 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to 5.4 percent of the
total of bilateral trade.
U.S. statistics show that China was the second largest export market of
American agricultural products, the largest export destination of American
soybeans and the second largest export destination of American cotton in
2017. On average, each American farmer exported some 12,000 dollars of
agricultural products to China.
“We are seeing a lot of concern from our clients about the negative
impacts on them of the U.S. China tariffs. We hoped to help facilitate a
resolution as quickly as possible,” one of the attendees, Dr. Gleyn Bledsoe,
acting director of Center for Advanced Food Technology of School of Food
Science which is a cooperative program of Washington State University and the
University of Idaho, told Xinhua.
Gleyn, who also works as a consultant in the area of food science into
third-party audit in the industry, added that “we have invited Chinese
companies to do some of their food processing here in the United states.”
“It’s a difficult moment for China-U.S. agriculture trade nowadays,” said
Phillips F. Richard, general manager of Department of Agri-Product and Foods
of CCIC North America Inc., calling for quick action to eliminate the tariff
wall.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1358