US commerce secretary calls on China to help revive global growth by opening markets

US calls on China to open markets

BEIJING — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urged China to help revive world growth by opening its markets further and easing currency controls.

“If China allowed for greater flexibility in its exchange rate and further opened up its domestic markets for imports and foreign direct investment, it would accelerate the world’s return to growth,” Locke said Wednesday in a speech to an audience of businesspeople.

Locke warned that protectionism or barring foreign companies from Chinese contracts could be a “serious threat to trade cooperation.”

Locke is in Beijing with Energy Secretary Steven Chu to promote U.S.-Chinese collaboration in developing clean energy, an area that President Barack Obama sees as a potential source of economic growth and jobs.

Trade ties between the United States, the world’s biggest economy, and No. 3 China are regarded as a key element of a recovery from the deepest global economic slump since the 1930s.

Beijing’s currency controls, and complaints about import and investment barriers, are a chronic irritant in U.S.-Chinese trade relations. China unsettled its trading partners when it announced in May that projects financed by its economic stimulus package are required to use domestically made goods whenever possible.

Speaking at a lunch organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the U.S.-China Business Council, Locke said the two sides still have disagreements but they are those of “mature partners.”

Locke appealed to Beijing to cooperate in promoting private-sector development of clean energy and to avoid imposing trade barriers on green technology.

“We need to empower U.S. and Chinese entrepreneurs and innovators to create and collaborate free from artificial trade barriers,” he said.

Foreign business groups say Chinese efforts to promote the develop China’s industry are shutting foreign companies out of some opportunities.

Locke and Chu are due to meet with Chinese ministers in charge of trade, technology, health and other areas during their visit.