Commerce Secretary Gary Locke Meets with China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke hosted a meeting with China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming at the Commerce Department today. This was the first meeting between Minister Chen and Secretary Locke.

Secretary Locke met with Minister Chen for one hourat the Department of Commerce. The Secretary and Minister Chen reaffirmed the commitment of both governments to continuing to build a positive and cooperative relationship that strengthens trade and creates jobs in the United Statesand China. The two leaders underscored the importance of achieving concrete results at the next meeting of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and also discussed other issues, such as increasing U.S. exports to China and the need to avoid protectionism.

Secretary Locke is the first Chinese American to serve as Commerce Secretary and was the first Chinese American governor in U.S. history. As governor of Washington, his trade missions to Asia introduced Washington companies to China and helped to more than double the state’s exports to China to more than $5 billion per year.