President Xi Jinping to cut China's auto tariffs.-China Business Council, which represents companies that deal with China, welcomed Xi&China aluminum scaffold manufacturers39;s announcement but expressed hope for additional steps such as ending requirements for joint ventures and technology licensing.Xi repeated pledges to open China's finance industries to foreign investors but gave no additional details. priorities including opening China's banking industry and boosting imports but didn't address key irritants for Washington such as a requirement for foreign companies to work through joint ventures that require them to give technology to potential local competitors.Jake Parker, the vice president for China of the U.The biggest beneficiaries of a cut in China's 25 percent tariff on most auto imports will be the small number of automakers such as electric car brand Tesla that have no factory in China."We will not bully our neighbors," the president said.The United States filed a WTO complaint last month accusing Beijing of violating its trade pledges by imposing unfair contract terms and allowing companies to use foreign-owned technology after licensing periods expire. "This would be a victory for the world trading system and an important step away from the abyss of # rising global protectionism."Ultimately, U."China does not seek a trade surplus," said Xi to an audience of Chinese and foreign businesspeople.
Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods worth $50 billion in response to complaints Beijing pressures foreign companies to hand over technology in violation of its World Trade Organisation market-opening commitments.Foreign companies complain Beijing is squeezing them out of promising parts of the state-dominated economy to promote the ruling Communist Party's plans to create Chinese global competitors in fields including robotics, electric cars and pharmaceuticals.The bulk of Xi's 40-minute speech was devoted to China's vision for economic development and its global role following a ruling party congress in October that confirmed him as the most dominant Chinese leader since at least the 1980s. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, speaking at the Boao event, welcomed Xi's promises on finance, investment, intellectual property and auto imports."Cold war thinking and zero-sum games are increasingly obsolete," he said. Beijing: President Xi Jinping promised Tuesday to cut China's auto tariffs and improve intellectual property protection in possible concessions aimed at defusing a worsening dispute with Washington over trade and technology that investors worry could set back the global economic recovery.Xi tried to position China as a defender of free trade and cooperation, despite its status as the most-closed major economy, in response to Trump's "America first" calls for import restrictions and trade deals that are more favorable to the United States.S.-China dialogue at the WTO to find a deal on intellectual property rights," said economist Rajiv Biswas of IHS Markit in a report.