WASHINGTON: The
United States said Monday it would press China on intellectual property
rights and other key concerns as the world's two largest economies hold
top-level trade talks next week.
The Commerce Department said
that Vice Premier Wang Qishan would visit Washington on December 18-19
for the annual Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, the main US-China
forum to discuss trade policies.
US Trade Representative Ron
Kirk called the forum "critical" for the future of the often fractious
commercial relationship between the United States and China.
"This
year, we're focused on delivering meaningful results on issues
including enforcement of intellectual property rights, combating
pressures to transfer technology, eliminating trade-distortive
industrial policies and removing key obstacles to our exports," he said
in a statement.
Trade has been a frequent irritant in relations,
with the United States accusing China of hurting US companies by not
cracking down on widespread counterfeiting and favoring domestic
competitors.
China, in turn, has warned the United States against
protectionism and called for the removal of restrictions on the sale of
sensitive technologies.
The talks come in the wake of the US
election, in which defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney vowed to
take a tougher stance on China over trade and other issues if he
defeated President Barack Obama.
This year's talks will likely be
the last involving longstanding players in trade negotiations, adding a
level of uncertainty into future rounds.
Wang, an economic
expert who is widely known and largely respected in Washington, was
named last month as China's top official tasked with fighting corruption
-- seen by the Communist Party as a major threat to its rule.
Kirk,
a former mayor of Dallas, is widely expected to leave his position as
the top US trade negotiator when Obama names his new cabinet.
WASHINGTON: The odds
the United States will slip back into recession next year have risen,
ratings agency Standard & Poor's said, citing risks from the
European debt crisis and budget tightening at year-end.
The US
ratings firm raised the chance of the US falling into recession to 25
per cent, up from a 20 per cent chance estimated in February, as the
world's largest economy struggles to recover from a severe 2008-2009
slump.
It also pointed to the looming possibility of the
government being forced by existing law to severely cut spending and
increase taxes on January 1, the so-called fiscal cliff that would
crunch the economy.
"Economic activity has downshifted sharply
from earlier this year," S&P said in a report on North American
credit conditions amid global uncertainty, dated August 20.
"At
the same time, possible contagion from the European debt crisis, the
potential so-called 'fiscal cliff', and the risk of a hard landing for
China's economy have added greater uncertainty to US economic
prospects," it said.
In the second quarter, the world's largest
economy grew at a 1.5 per cent annual rate, a sharp slowdown from late
last year as unemployment remained stuck above 8.0 per cent.
S&P
underscored concern about the impact of a recession in the 17-nation
eurozone, whose economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the second quarter.
S&P forecast a 0.6 per cent contraction this year.
"A double-dip recession in Europe that transmits financial turmoil to the US could push it into recession," the agency said.
However,
S&P said its baseline scenario for the US economy -- remained
"modest growth," projecting a gross domestic product expansion of about
2.1 per cent for this year.
S&P also said it expected that
politicians would agree before year-end to change the current severe
budget cut and tax hike mandates to avoid the fiscal cliff fate.
However, it said, "We do not believe the US and European economies will improve substantially in the next year."
