Sino-U.S. trade to keep on soaring
Lawyers say a rising number of trade disputes will not curb rapidly growing Chinese investments in the United States
Tensions between the United States and China over trade and investments will rise under the leaderships of Xi Jinping and re-elected President Barack Obama, but Chinese investments in the US will nonetheless soar, say lawyers involved in Sino-US deals.
"Obama will be tough on trade with China because it's good politics," said Edmund Sim, a partner at Appleton Luff, a US law firm.
Obama won almost all the Midwestern states in the recent US election because of his policies favouring US industries such as the bailout of the car industry, Sim said.
"The US will therefore continue a robust trade policy aimed at keeping China to its WTO trade commitments while supporting US exports," Sim said. "This means more WTO complaints and trade actions between the two countries."
Trade between the two countries was valued at US$500 billion in 2011 compared with US$120 billion in 2001, said Mao Tong, a lawyer at Squire Sanders, another US law firm. This meant the number of trade disputes, including anti-dumping complaints, have gone up, since a proportion of that trade was subject to friction, said Mao.
"The total trade figure will continue to grow and there is a concern over dispute management," he added.
In recent weeks the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) has called for tighter controls on Chinese investments in the US. The Commission is a US congressional body that advises Congress on China but has no power to implement policy.