29.3.06

Contra o proteccionismo

O Secretário do Comércio americano, Carlos Gutierrez, esteve na China e deixou um alerta para o perigo que representa o aumento do proteccionismo nos EUA e chama a atenção das autoridades chinesas para algumas das suas causas:

Gutierrez said China needed to act on U.S. complaints about widespread Chinese piracy of films, software and other intellectual property, as well as demands to expand market access for American companies.
But he said legislation threatening China was not the way to defuse complaints and narrow the U.S. trade gap with China, which reached $202 billion in 2005.(...)
"Clearly, a protectionist sentiment in the U.S. that is backed by action and legislation ... would be very bad for China and the United States."(...) ###

Gutierrez (...) repeatedly warned against rising protectionist rancor aimed at China, while urging Beijing to address U.S. complaints.
"All that we have done together can be put at risk by rising the level of trade tension in the U.S. government,"(...)he said Chinese efforts to subsidize local industries, promote home-grown security standards for wireless computer networks, and restrict multinationals' access to government purchasing programs were straining trade ties.(...)
Commerce Minister Bo Xilai told Gutierrez on Tuesday that China was not to blame for the gap, which he said was the outcome of broader global economic shifts, according to a report on his ministry's Web site.
"A considerable amount of Chinese exports to the United States comes from U.S. companies who have invested in China," Bo told him.