Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was in San Francisco, California to meet with local business leaders and deliver remarks on the U.S. and global economies at the Commonwealth Club. In his remarks, the Secretary discussed the U.S.-China economic relationship in advance of the fourth round of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), which will take place in Beijing next week.
He outlined significant progress made with China in the last three years in growing U.S. exports, improving the protection of U.S. intellectual property rights, unwinding China’s discriminatory indigenous innovation accreditation system, opening up new sectors to U.S. and other foreign firms, negotiating new rules on official export financing, appreciating China’s exchange rate, and bringing down China’s trade surplus. He also highlighted the modernization of the Chinese financial sector as a key priority for the upcoming S&ED by explaining that more choices for Chinese consumers and greater returns to savers will increase Chinese households’ ability to consume goods and services, including from the United States. (Read his full speech here.)
Later in the day, he sat for an interview with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal where he echoed these themes:
Ryssdal: You’re about to make your 15th, 20th trip to china in the past four years. You spend a lot of time on that issue. I’d be curious as to your state of our economic relationship.
Geithner: Better. Better than it was.
Ryssdal: Is it good?
Geithner: I think it’s better than it was. Exports are growing very rapidly, that’s a good test. Their exchange rate has appreciated against the dollar, that’s pretty good for us, that means the competitive playing field is moving in our direction. There’s better protection for intellectual property rights in China, less piracy against U.S. firms, and we’ve been very aggressive in using protections in U.S. trade law to challenge unfair trade practices in China.
Listen to excerpts released on Marketplace Morning Report and tune in to Marketplace radio at 5:00 PM ET for the full interview.
Erika Gudmundson is New Media Specialist at the Department of the Treasury.