China and the United States both reiterated calls against protectionism at an annual trade meeting on Thursday, against a backdrop of friction over trade and the value of their currencies.
The annual Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, held in a garden compound in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, comes just a few weeks before U.S. president Barack Obama's first official trip to China.
Deals on high-tech trade, energy cooperation, adjusting discrepancies in trade statistics and a natural gas venture were signed on Thursday, although no details were released. China also agreed to loosen restrictions on wind power.
The meeting between Chinese vice premier Wang Qishan and the U.S. commerce secretary, trade representative and agriculture secretary was overshadowed by a number of trade disputes, including recent U.S. decisions to set duties on Chinese products that U.S. industry says are flooding U.S. markets.
Wang called on his American guests to "stand firmly against all types of trade protectionism" while U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Obama was "committed to free and fair trade".
A flurry of official American visits have preceded Obama's trip, as the United States tries to reach accords on currency and trade with its second-largest trading partner and the largest foreign holder of its government debt.
"We must look to the future and cooperate to create balanced and sustainable trade, lifting more of our people out of poverty not just for our own citizens in China and the United States but indeed all around the world," Locke said.
"It is critical that we make definite, concrete, demonstrable progress today to demonstrate to our citizens and people of the whole world that U.S. and China can work together."
About 75 U.S. delegates from Washington and embassy officials attended the opening meeting, in which U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called for a mid-year review at the vice-ministerial level to identify problems before they come up.
Instead of formal trade barriers, the challenges to free trade will increasingly lie in the rules, regulations and behaviours of the two sides, Kirk said.
On his way to Hangzhou, Locke said the United States wants China's currency — which has been effectively pegged to the dollar since the summer of 2008 — to climb further.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday set preliminary duties on imports of steel grating and concrete steel wire strand, citing Chinese government subsidies. A final determination on the duties is due in January.
China has told the United States it will conduct a trade investigation on autos and sports utility vehicles made by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, the president of the American Automotive Policy Council told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Obama administration in September imposed safeguard duties on imports from China for the first time, with duties on tyres that Chinese officials warned would reduce their willingness to make concessions at this week's JCCT meeting.
China responded to the tyre duties by saying it would launch its own anti-dumping investigations into U.S. poultry and autos, which together accounted for roughly the same value as the Chinese exports of tyres to the United States.
