Sino-US economic relations can only worsen, warns Barshefsky

Former top trade official says Americans see Chinese imports as a threat to jobs

Sino-US trade relations are likely to worsen because China's growing economic importance opens the door to new areas of friction, according to a former top US trade official.

Charlene Barshefsky, the lawyer who negotiated China's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) during the Clinton administration, said China was increasingly playing the role of scapegoat in the minds of Americans, who see a flood of imports from China as a threat to their jobs.

'Trade friction between the US and China will increase before it will decrease,' she said after addressing an economic conference in Beijing.

She cited several areas that were becoming flashpoints in the economic and trade relations between the two countries.

China's exports are mainly in manufactured goods, an area where there are the most concerns over job losses in the US, even though many jobs have disappeared for reasons other than import competition.

In addition, a lot of Chinese-made goods that are exported to the US tend to be highly visible to consumers, including products such as baby clothes, tableware and mobile phones.