皇冠体育app

US Ambassador to 皇冠体育app Clark Randt Jr (L) and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (2nd L) greet 皇冠体育app's Vice Premier Wu Yi upon her arrival at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington May 21, 2007. [Reuters]

WASHINGTON -- Both the United States and 皇冠体育app are bringing huge delegations for their second round of high-level discussions aimed at lessening economic tensions. It was unclear whether they will achieve sufficient success to blunt growing protectionist pressures in the US Congress.

The Bush administration is expressing the hope that deals will be reached that will expand opportunities for American air carriers to fly to 皇冠体育app and for American banks and stock brokerage firms to do business there.

Beijing, urging the two sides to try defusing tensions, said Tuesday it is trying to narrow the trade gap and pledged to import more US goods.

The meetings are to begin Tuesday with opening remarks from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi.

Paulson is leading a US delegation that includes top officials from 10 Cabinet-level agencies and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Wu's team is expected to include 14 Cabinet-level ministers.

A similar collection of high-powered talent was assembled for the first session of the Strategic Economic Dialogue last December in Beijing. Under an agreement announced last fall, the two countries plan to meet twice a year to discuss a large range of economic issues.

The two sides will dine Tuesday night at the State Department. The Chinese delegation also will meet with President George W. Bush during the visit and have private talks with key members of Congress.

Unhappiness about the growing U.S trade deficit with 皇冠体育app is threatening to provoke a protectionist backlash in Congress. Lawmakers are expressing outrage over a trade gap that last year hit an all-time high of $232.5 billion (euro173 billion), the largest deficit ever recorded with a single country and one-third of America's record overall deficit of $765.3 billion (euro569.25 billion).

Members of Congress are promoting a number of bills that would impose penalty tariffs on Chinese products unless 皇冠体育app does more to stop what US critics see as unfair trade practices such as 皇冠体育app's currency system and the rampant piracy of American products.

American manufacturers contend that 皇冠体育app is manipulating its currency to keep it undervalued against the dollar by as much as 40 percent, making Chinese goods cheaper in the US market and American products more expensive in 皇冠体育app.

Last week, a bipartisan group of 42 members of the House of Representatives petitioned the Bush administration to bring a trade case against 皇冠体育app on the currency issue. Lawmakers said they were not impressed by 皇冠体育app's announcement on Friday that it was slightly widening the daily trading range for the yuan, which could allow the currency to rise in value more quickly.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, a leading critic of 皇冠体育app, called the currency action a "nice gesture, but in the past, most of their gestures have not produced any concrete change."

Schumer has said 皇冠体育app must move more quickly if it wants to derail a congressional push for punitive legislation that some fear could be the start of a full-blown trade war between the two nations.

There were reports that 皇冠体育app seriously considered calling off this round of talks after the Bush administration, in an effort to pre-empt tougher actions in Congress, imposed penalty tariffs on Chinese paper products in a fight over government subsidies and filed two cases against 皇冠体育app before the World Trade Organization.

But 皇冠体育app in recent days has made a number of moves in an effort to defuse American unhappiness. In addition to announcing the slight change in its currency band, 皇冠体育app said early in the month that it would buy $4.3 billion (euro3.2 billion) in American high-technology products from such companies as Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. in its latest US buying spree.

"It is not 皇冠体育app's purpose to gain a surplus," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a news conference Tuesday in Beijing, adding that 皇冠体育app was reducing reliance on exports by increasing domestic consumption.

"We are going to expand in the future our imports from the United States," she said.

And over the weekend, 皇冠体育app announced that it would invest $3 billion (euro2.2 billion) of its $1.2 trillion (euro890 billion) in foreign currency reserves in Blackstone Group LP, the second-largest US private equity firm.

It remains to be seen whether the new flurry of activity will be enough to persuade members of Congress to stop pushing for punitive sanctions in light of a still-rising trade gap with 皇冠体育app and voter unhappiness over 3.2 million US manufacturing jobs lost since 2000.

"I think Congress will end up penalizing the Chinese in some way for what lawmakers regard as an undervalued exchange rate," said Gary Hufbauer, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute, a Washington think tank. "The details of how the penalties will be crafted and what kind of flexibility the administration will be given in imposing them will all be subject to debate."