Tuesday 14 February 2017

US business in China warms to possible Trump trade policy shake-up – Nasdaq

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* Reciprocity requires similar entry and advantages for each
nations
    * Many Chinese sectors both off limits or severely
restricted
    * Beijing's "Made in China 2025" inflicting considerations
    * Reciprocity wanted to fight "techno-nationalism -
McGregor
    * China specialists doubt Trump will rock the China boat

    By Michael Martina and Matthew MillerBEIJING, Feb 15 (Reuters) - "Reciprocity" has develop into the brand new
buzzword in the U.S. business group in China, with some
business leaders saying they might welcome a harder strategy
from the Trump administration in opening up the markets of the
world's second-largest financial system.
    It's a hanging shift inside the American group right here,
which had lengthy lobbied Washington towards taking extra aggressive
insurance policies, fearing they might draw retribution from China's
leaders.
    President Donald Trump's picks for Commerce Secretary and
Trade Representative, Wilbur Ross and Robert Lighthizer, have in
the previous backed the reciprocity precept when it comes to
China: that Beijing ought to present the identical entry and advantages
to American business in China that Washington provides the Chinese
in the United States.
    "Our membership has moved to some extent in that course
as nicely, in advocating a firmer posture with respect to China,"
stated Lester Ross, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce
in China's policy committee.
    He made the remarks in January after the group issued a
report that discovered over 60 % of the chamber's members had
"little or no confidence that the Chinese authorities is
dedicated to opening markets additional in the subsequent three years".
[nL4N1F82ZV]
    Many sectors of China's financial system are both off limits or
severely restricted to overseas buyers.
    Foreign banks in China, for instance, account for lower than 2
% of complete belongings, in accordance to the China Banking
Regulatory Commission.
    A 50-percent possession cap for overseas life insurers,
regardless of China's 2001 World Trade Organization commitments to
raise it, has helped restrict their market share to about 6 %.
    China'sAnbang Insurance Group <ANBANG.UL>, on the opposite
hand, has spent greater than $eight billion buying U.S. belongings,
together with the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Strategic Hotels &
Resorts. It continues to be ready for regulatory approval to purchase U.S.
life insurer Fidelity & Guaranty Life <FGL.N> for $1.6 billion.
[nL4N1DM1FU] [nL1N1FS247]

    "CHINA HAS OVERREACHED"
    The similar imbalances could be seen in sectors corresponding to
automotives, cost playing cards and know-how.
    China'sGeely Holding Group [GEELY.UL] purchased Volvo from
Ford Motor Co. <F.N> in 2010, however overseas corporations are
required to arrange joint ventures to assemble automobiles in China,
typically transferring know-how in the method.
    While China's UnionPay has grown to develop into the world's
largest cost card, in accordance to the variety of playing cards issued,
U.S. bank card operators Visa <V.N> and MasterCard <MA.N> have
but to be independently licensed to clear transactions in China,
regardless of a 2012 WTO ruling mandating that Beijing open the
sector.
    Foreign know-how hardware and repair suppliers are
bristling at necessities to meet the restrictive phrases of newly
minted cyber safety laws. Beijing's "Made in China
2025" plan additionally requires a progressive improve in home
elements used in precedence sectors, comparable to superior info
know-how and robotics to 70 % by 2025.
    James McGregor, Chairman of APCO Worldwide, Greater China,
stated the thought of some type of reciprocity is gaining traction,
notably in combating "techno-nationalism".
    "You've received Chinese corporations which have protected markets
and make a great deal of cash after which they're going out and doing
worldwide acquisitions that would destroy different corporations,"
McGregor stated. "Now China has overreached a lot they've
alienated a lot of the business group."
    McGregor stated U.S. policy makers had to work out how to
use America's openness and rule of law to cope with China,
as an alternative of permitting them to turn out to be vulnerabilities.
    The query is how to craft a reciprocity policy with out
destabilising bilateral relations or triggering a retaliatory
backlash towards U.S. companies in China.
    Chinese state media has warned that U.S. companies could possibly be
targets in any trade warfare that Trump might unleash - he has
threatened to label China a foreign money manipulator and slap heavy
tariffs on Chinese items.
    China'sMinistry of Commerce didn't reply to a request
for touch upon the difficulty of reciprocity.
    But Tu Xinquan, a trade skilled at Beijing'sUniversity of
International Business and Economics, stated Trump's choices would
be restricted by his guarantees to create jobs.
    "If you shut the door to Chinese investments, that is not
good for American employment," Tu stated.

    BAD POLICY
    One approach to obtain reciprocity can be to use the Committee
on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) safety
assessment course of to wall off industries the place U.S. companies face
discrimination in China. But most specialists see that as straying
too removed from the free market orthodoxy that has drawn funding
and jobs to the United States for many years.
    James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based lawyer with Sheppard Mullin
and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in
China, stated strict reciprocity can be dangerous policy and towards
the U.S. system of open funding.
    "We need to be very careful what we ask for," Zimmerman
stated.
    Proponents argue reciprocity doesn't violate free market
rules, however is a wanted intervention due to a market
failure, a lot as the federal government makes use of antitrust policy to crack
down on cartels.
    Thilo Hanemann, in a Rhodium Group report to the U.S.-China
Economic and Security Review Commission, stated easy requires
reciprocity are "misguided". But, he added, if China's
"commingling of economic and political motives isn't
resolved, then a brand new chapter in U.S. - and international - competitors
policy activism could also be required."


 (Reporting by Michael Martina and Matthew Miller in BEIJING;
Editing by Bill Tarrant)
 ((michael.martina@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627-1219; Reuters
Messaging: michael.martina.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: CHINA USA/BUSINESS (PIX)





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