REMARKS AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY - SANDY K. BARUAH , ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL IEDC AND CHINA GENERAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON, DC

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2007

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Introduction by: Jeff Finkle, President and CEO, International Economic Development Council

Thank you, Jeff, for that kind introduction. The Economic Development Administration and the International Economic Development Council are long-time partners on important development issues, and I appreciate the invitation to be here this evening on behalf of U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

I’d like to thank IEDC and the China General Chamber of Commerce U.S.A. for bringing together members of the U.S. and Chinese business communities to help strengthen the U.S.-China trade relationship.

And a special thanks to tonight’s man of honor, Assistant Minister Chen Jian for leading the Chinese business delegation to the United States. Minister Jian is playing an important role in bolstering the understanding between the U.S. and China, and I applaud his important efforts.

This is an exciting time for China’s economy, and that’s great news for Chinese citizens and the global marketplace as China continues to play an ever larger role on the world economic stage.

• Over the past 20 years, China’s economy has grown by nearly 10% a year and had a total growth in real GDP of over 500%.

• Since China joined the WTO in December 2001, U.S. exports to China have been growing by over 20% a year.

• China is now America’s second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade last year of over $330 billion – in fact, over the past 12 months, China has been America’s largest source of imports.

• China is projected to surpass Germany by the end of 2007 as the world’s third largest economy after the U.S. and Japan.

• And in 2006, U.S. technology exports to China grew by 44% to 17.7 billion—more than the entire value of U.S. exports to partners like India, Russia, and Thailand.

The economic relationship between the U.S. and China is indeed strong, and continues to move in the right direction. To keep this momentum moving forward, Secretary Gutierrez has made four trips to China since becoming Secretary, which demonstrates the importance this Administration places on strengthening U.S.-China ties.

And the Secretary will return to China this December to continue two successful initiatives for bolstering our relationship – the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade – the JCCT – and the Strategic Economic Dialogue.

The 18th session of the JCCT will take place on December 11th in Beijing. The JCCT, established in 1983, is a high-level government-to-government dialogue, which identifies and resolves bilateral trade issues to expand trade opportunities.

For the U.S., Secretary Gutierrez and Trade Representative Susan Schwab will chair the 18th JCCT. Vice Premier Wu Yi will serve as the chair for China.

The JCCT has over a dozen working groups and sub-groups that meet throughout the year to work on a range of trade and investment issues. The JCCT is an important effort in our bilateral relationship, and an important example of how the U.S. and China are sitting down together in a constructive and meaningful manner to address issues of mutual importance.

Another example of this constructive dialogue is the Strategic Economic Dialogue – the SED. The third session of the SED will be held on December 12th and 13th in China. The SED is a forum designed to provide an overarching framework to discuss ongoing cross-cutting, long-term and strategic economic issues that are very important to our countries.

The SED includes important issues such as currency reform, energy, environment, transparency, and consumer product and food safety. As you know, these issues are growing in importance to both U.S. consumers and businesses.

SED, JCCT and other initiative are illustrations of the significant attention the U.S. is placing on its relationship with China. As we continue to work bilaterally on ongoing issues and new opportunities, we can achieve even stronger trade and business relationships, and enhance the prosperity of our citizens.

Another example of commonalities between the U.S. and China is our mutual growing interest in regionally-based economic development approaches. Regional approaches to development augment national economic policies and allow regions within a country to develop and expand on their unique competitive advantages.

The agency I have the honor of leading – the Economic Development Administration – is focused on encouraging regional approaches to economic development, and I am proud to lead the U.S. delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Territorial Development Policy Committee, which is focused on developing and sharing best practices in regional development.

While I have not yet had the opportunity to travel to China, I understand from my U.S. colleagues that China has very robust regional initiatives underway that are helping to fuel China’s impressive economic expansion, and I applaud China for this approach to economic development.

As the U.S. works with China to enhance our understanding and bilateral trade relationship, President Bush is actively pursuing the same free trade principles with other members of the global marketplace. When President Bush came to office, we had free trade agreements with 3 countries – today, we have free trade agreements with 16 countries.

Currently, we are working on free trade agreements with Columbia, Panama, Peru, and South Korea. These free trade agreements will further expand opportunities for U.S. businesses to sell their products and services to 126 million consumers of the growing worldwide marketplace.

On a final note, I believe it is fair to say that some Americans are watching the growing U.S.-China economic relationship very carefully. Some have a sense of fear. While some of these fears may not be warranted, one can certainly understand the source of these fears.

It is our obligation as leaders, in both countries, to take steps to address these fears.

I’ll end by putting the U.S.-China economic relationship into a stark perspective: China now trades more with the U.S. in a single month than it did with the entire world in a year just 25 years ago. This statistic is not only a testament to China’s strong economic growth, it is a strong reminder of the importance of our bilateral relationship.

I, along with Secretary Gutierrez and our colleagues in the Bush Administration are committed to continuing to work closely with leaders in China to make this relationship even stronger, and I know the Secretary looks forward to returning to China this December for the JCCT and SED discussions.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here on behalf of Secretary Gutierrez. And let me again welcome Assistant Minister Chen Jian and the Chinese business delegation to the United States. I wish you a productive and enjoyable visit and safe travels.

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