Engage China Letter to the President
February 19, 2009
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations on your recent inauguration as the 44th President of the United States. The undersigned members of the ENGAGE CHINA coalition (www.engagechina.com) offer our best wishes and look forward to working with your Administration toward strengthening one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today - the U.S.-China economic relationship. More specifically, the purpose of this letter is to call your attention to the importance of achieving tangible results from continuing the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) or a similar high-level framework of regular communication with senior Chinese officials.
Your attention and energy over the initial days of your Administration has been properly focused on the challenges facing the domestic economy, and we applaud your leadership on efforts to stimulate the economy and develop solutions for financial stabilization. Even as you and your economic team focus on reviving domestic demand, it should be remembered that our trading relationships with the rest of the world are vitally important to our economic growth and job-creating capacity. Indeed, in recent years, trade has accounted for a quarter of our economic output and the jobs of more than 12 million American workers.
The world's 7th largest economy as recently as 1999, China recently surpassed Germany to become the world's 3rd largest, having grown at better than 9 percent annually for two decades. Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December of 2001, trade between the United States and China has more than tripled, U.S. exports to China have grown at six times the pace of our exports to the rest of the world, and China has risen from America's 9th largest export market to its 3rd largest. Without question, how this critical relationship is managed will determine in large part the growth and vitality of the U.S. and global economies in the 21st century.
The ongoing financial crisis and the global economic downturn have only further highlighted the degree to which the U.S. and Chinese economies are interconnected. While current circumstances might complicate the U.S.-China relationship, we believe that they also offer a unique opportunity for the U.S. and China to build a more balanced, durable, and mutually beneficial relationship.
For example, ENGAGE CHINA members are strongly of the view that continued reform and modernization of China's underdeveloped financial sector is critical to China achieving its own economic goals of maintaining high rates of growth and job creation, and building a more services-based, consumer-driven economy - goals very much in the interest of the United States. Fair and competitive access to China's fast-growing middle class and business sector represents an enormous commercial opportunity for American manufacturers, farmers, and service providers, with major implications for U.S. economic growth and job creation. A more active Chinese consumer is part of the solution to persistent trade imbalances. A strong and effective financial system is critical to the growth and job-creating capacity of any economy.
With these priorities in mind, we respectfully call your attention to the importance of achieving tangible results from continuing the U.S.-China SED or a similar high-level framework of regular communication with senior Chinese officials. The SED provides an unprecedented channel of communication between the most senior U.S. and Chinese policymakers and provides an overarching framework for the examination of long-term strategic issues, as well as coordination of ongoing bilateral policy discussions through the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and the Joint Economic Committee.
In particular, the SED provides a senior-level framework within which U.S. policymakers can raise and discuss issues, in a coordinated and focused manner, that directly impact U.S. economic competitiveness and job creation. Continuation of such regular, high-level discussions, we believe, is critical to ensuring a thriving, more mature, and better balanced bi-lateral relationship that serves the economic interests of both nations and their people. Indeed, following the example of the United States, the European Union has established its own regular, high-level dialogue with China.
We thank you for your willingness to consider our input, and wish you well as you begin your Administration. We look forward to working with you on this and other issues critical to a healthy and growing U.S. economy.
Sincerely,
Ed Yingling
President & CEO
American Bankers Association
Insurers
Frank Keating
President & CEO
American Council of Life
Leigh Ann Pusey
CEO
American Insurance Association
Donna Alexander
President
Bankers' Association for Finance and Trade
Ken A. Crerar
President & COO
The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
Robert S. Nichols
President & COO
The Financial Services Forum
Steve Bartlett
President & CEO
Financial Services Roundtable
John Damgard
President
Futures Industry Association
Paul Schott Stevens
President & CEO
Investment Company Institute of America
David A. Sampson
President & CEO
Property and Casualty Insurers of America
T. Timothy Ryan, Jr.
CEO
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association