Tough talk came from Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez aimed at China and its burgeoning or perhaps bludgeoning piracy industry today. He said China needs to pump out the bilge our face protectionism from other countries.
The Department of Commerce estimates the U.S. loses $250 billion a year from the counterfeiting and piracy of manufactured goods of all types and most of these goods come from China. It’s not uncommon to find some of the finest labels on counterfeit products as well as incredibly cheap copies of books and CDs and DVDs being sold in large quantities and then showing up in the U.S.
Gutierrez told the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing “Intellectual property rights violations are a crime and we don’t believe we should be negotiating crimes with our trading partners. Everything else is up for negotiation.”
Gutierrez expressed concern over trade negotiations with China as the most heavily populated nation on earth continues having problems with both the U.S. and the E.U. over textile trade. China cranks out more textiles than any other nation and the U.S. and the E.U. felt they were forced to put measures in place to limit those imports.
“Unfortunately, the slow pace of progress risks an outbreak of protectionism,” Gutierrez went on to say. “The absence of results only empowers those within the U.S. political system who are pushing an American retreat from the global economy.”
While meeting with students, Gutierrez got lambasted over the U.S. trade measure against the Chinese textile industry. They said the measures would weaken the Chinese economy and take jobs from Chinese workers. This sounds remarkably similar to trade negotiations going on in the U.S. with its own workers.
On Saturday, Gutierrez is slated to meet his Chinese counterpart, Bo Xilai. The textile and piracy issues will top the list of discussion.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
