“Both governments agreed to continue the consultative process, with additional meetings to be arranged at a later date,” the office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement after two days of talks with Japanese officials.

“The meeting was an opportunity for the United States to continue the assessment of Japan’s readiness” to make significant market-opening reforms, USTR said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced Tokyo’s interest in joining talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) back on November 11, prior to joining President Barack Obama in Honolulu for a meeting of Asia Pacific leaders.

The two sides had senior level talks earlier this month and followed that with technical level talks this week.

Detroit-based U.S. auto manufacturers have objected to Japan joining the TPP negotiations, saying they do not believe Tokyo is prepared at this time to dismantle “non-tariff” barriers that they blame for low U.S. auto sales in Japan.

Japan, whose tariff on U.S. autos is already zero, says Detroit’s claims are exaggerated and the real problem is that the automakers do not make cars suited to the Japanese market.

U.S. trade officials have said the decision on whether Japan will be allowed into the negotiations will be made in consultation with the eight other countries currently involved in the TPP talks – Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Chile and Peru.

Those countries set a goal in November of finishing the TPP talks this year.

Canada and Mexico have also asked to join the negotiations and are awaiting a decision as well.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)

The Business Software Alliance, which represents U.S. industry heavyweights such as Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research), said Brazil finished last in its survey of 24 countries, earning only 35.1 points out a possible 100 because of its policies in areas such free trade, security, data privacy and cybercrime.

India, which has the world’s second-largest software industry after the United States, and China, whose information and communications technology sector is expected to nearly double to $389 billion by 2015, also were in the bottom six, with scores of 50.0 and 47.5, respectively.

Cloud computing refers to providing software, storage, computing power and other services to customers from remote data centers over the Web. Demand for cloud-based software is rising rapidly because the approach allows companies to start using new programs faster and at lower cost than traditional products that are installed at a customer’s own data center.

A major purpose of the report is to rally the international “technology community around the need for greater harmonization of laws so a truly global cloud can come about,” said Robert Holleyman, president of the U.S. software group.

Without greater coordination of government policies, “the cloud could be chopped into little pieces,” reducing the efficiency that comes from being able to move data and software services freely across borders, Holleyman said.

The 24 countries included in the survey represent 80 percent of the global information and communications technology industry. They were scored in seven areas, which also included intellectual property protection, infrastructure and support for industry-led standards to promote smooth data flows.

Japan was ranked highest with 83.3 points. It was followed closely by other developed countries including Australia, Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and South Korea, which all scored in the high 70s.

While the report showed a “sharp divide between advanced economies and the developing world, even some of the high-ranking countries are walling themselves in with conflicting laws and regulations,” Holleyman said.

European Union countries scored well, but “what’s happening now in the EU is lawmakers and regulators are effectively putting their thumbs on the scale in ways that will make it difficult for non-European firms to compete,” he said.

“There are concerns that Germany, for example, wants to put a wall around the country to limit the provision of cloud services to companies that are located in Germany.”

Strong laws to protect privacy are important to give users confidence “that private information stored in the cloud, wherever in the world, will not be used or disclosed by the cloud provider in unexpected ways, the report said.

Tough security measures are also needed, but some countries such as China that have implemented Internet filtering or censorship regimes could thwart develop of cloud computing and the digital economy, the report said.

Brazil scored just 1.6 out of a possible 10 on policies to combat cybercrime, which is expected to become an increasing challenge as more and more information is aggregated in large data centers, making them tempting targets.

Japan and France earn perfect marks in that section, while South Africa came close with a 9.8.

Even though Brazil finished dead last in the report, Holleyman said he was more optimistic about the potential to persuade Latin America’s second largest economy to make reforms than he was for China.

“There is probably more opportunity to make progress in Brazil by pointing out what we see as the gaps that exist currently and why Brazil’s economy will slow down as result of these policies,” Holleyman said.

“I think it’s going to be a bigger challenge in some other markets, particularly China,” he said.

China “not only has the ‘great firewall,’ that does not allow the transmission between people in China and the rest of the world. But it also has a policy to require non-Chinese cloud firms to enter into joint ventures with Chinese firms” on unfavorable terms for outsiders, he said.

India also appears to recognize it is in its interest to promote global cloud computing, Holleyman said.

The full report can been on the Business Software Alliance’s website, at www.bsa.org/cloudscorecard

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)

The Business Software Alliance, which represents U.S.
industry heavyweights such as Microsoft Corp, said
Brazil finished last in its survey of 24 countries, earning only
35.1 points out a possible 100 because of its policies in areas
such free trade, security, data privacy and cybercrime.

India, which has the world’s second-largest software
industry after the United States, and China, whose information
and communications technology sector is expected to nearly
double to $389 billion by 2015, also were in the bottom six,
with scores of 50.0 and 47.5, respectively.

Cloud computing refers to providing software, storage,
computing power and other services to customers from remote data
centers over the Web. Demand for cloud-based software is rising
rapidly because the approach allows companies to start using new
programs faster and at lower cost than traditional products that
are installed at a customer’s own data center.

A major purpose of the report is to rally the international
“technology community around the need for greater harmonization
of laws so a truly global cloud can come about,” said Robert
Holleyman, president of the U.S. software group.

Without greater coordination of government policies, “the
cloud could be chopped into little pieces,” reducing the
efficiency that comes from being able to move data and software
services freely across borders, Holleyman said.

The 24 countries included in the survey represent 80 percent
of the global information and communications technology
industry. They were scored in seven areas, which also included
intellectual property protection, infrastructure and support for
industry-led standards to promote smooth data flows.

Japan was ranked highest with 83.3 points. It was followed
closely by other developed countries including Australia,
Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom
and South Korea, which all scored in the high 70s.

While the report showed a “sharp divide between advanced
economies and the developing world, even some of the
high-ranking countries are walling themselves in with
conflicting laws and regulations,” Holleyman said.

European Union countries scored well, but “what’s happening
now in the EU is lawmakers and regulators are effectively
putting their thumbs on the scale in ways that will make it
difficult for non-European firms to compete,” he said.

“There are concerns that Germany, for example, wants to put
a wall around the country to limit the provision of cloud
services to companies that are located in Germany.”

Strong laws to protect privacy are important to give users
confidence “that private information stored in the cloud,
wherever in the world, will not be used or disclosed by the
cloud provider in unexpected ways, the report said.

Tough security measures are also needed, but some countries
such as China that have implemented Internet filtering or
censorship regimes could thwart develop of cloud computing and
the digital economy, the report said.

Brazil scored just 1.6 out of a possible 10 on policies to
combat cybercrime, which is expected to become an increasing
challenge as more and more information is aggregated in large
data centers, making them tempting targets.

Japan and France earn perfect marks in that section, while
South Africa came close with a 9.8.

Even though Brazil finished dead last in the report,
Holleyman said he was more optimistic about the potential to
persuade Latin America’s second largest economy to make reforms
than he was for China.

“There is probably more opportunity to make progress in
Brazil by pointing out what we see as the gaps that exist
currently and why Brazil’s economy will slow down as result of
these policies,” Holleyman said.

“I think it’s going to be a bigger challenge in some other
markets, particularly China,” he said.

China “not only has the ‘great firewall,’ that does not allow
the transmission between people in China and the rest of the
world. But it also has a policy to require non-Chinese cloud
firms to enter into joint ventures with Chinese firms” on
unfavorable terms for outsiders, he said.

India also appears to recognize it is in its interest to
promote global cloud computing, Holleyman said.

The full report can been on the Business Software Alliance’s
website, at www.bsa.org/cloudscorecard

The pact was signed nearly five years ago but faced tough
resistance from some industry and agricultural interests in both
countries. It may face still more hurdles in South Korea, where
the opposition party has said it will try to repeal it.

South Korea’s Minister for Trade Park Tae-ho told reporters
implementation of the deal would help South Korean exporters who
have lost sales to Europe because of that continent’s debt
crisis that has hurt consumer and business demand.

“Coming at a time such as this, the U.S. free trade
agreement is a positive opportunity for our exports to the
United States, which is the world’s largest developed market, to
grow significantly,” he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, in a statement issued in
Washington, said the pact will help support tens of thousands of
American jobs in export industries.

“Entry into force of this agreement will open up Korea’s $1
trillion economy for America’s workers, businesses, farmers, and
ranchers while also strengthening our economic partnership with
a key Asia-Pacific ally,” Kirk said.

U.S. business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the National Association of Manufacturers, applauded news of
the implementation, which follows months of detailed technical
talks to ensure each side has made all the legal and regulatory
changes required under the agreement.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said the
agreement, which phases out South Korea’s tariffs on U.S. beef
over 15 years, “may very well be the most monumental bilateral
trade pact our industry has ever witnessed.”

Meanwhile, Representative Dave Camp, Republican chairman of
the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, urged
President Barack Obama’s administration to also bring two other
long-delayed trade pacts with Colombia and Panama into force “as
quickly as possible.”

Congress passed all three agreements in October.

The Obama administration has said it is working to implement
the two Latin American deals as soon as possible, but has not
given a precise timetable for that.

The U.S.-South Korea deal will eliminate Seoul’s duties on
almost 80 percent of U.S. industrial products and almost 67
percent of U.S. farm goods on its first day of entry into force.

Commitments opening up South Korea’s $580 billion services
market also take effect beginning March 15.

South Korea’s parliament, currently controlled by the ruling
conservatives, approved the deal in November amid rowdy scenes
of opposition lawmakers protesting, after it was signed in 2007
by the then-government of left-leaning President Roh Moo-hyun.

Though it was the opposition that initiated the free trade
agreement when it was in power, its legislators argue that
subsequent changes to allow U.S. carmakers a major inroad into
the market and a dispute settlement mechanism will strip South
Korea of any ability to defend its interests.

Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute
for International Economics in Washington, said he doubted
opposition candidates would make good on their threat to repeal
the pact, even if they win parliamentary elections in April and
a presidential election later this year.

“I think it’s electoral rhetoric. Implementing the exit
clause is costly in both economic and political terms. I think
any responsible leader in South Korea would be very reluctant to
touch it,” Schott said.

Kirk said Obama’s insistence on renegotiating the agreement
to get more favorable auto provisions for the United States was
the reason it was approved with “strong bipartisan support” in
both the U.S. Senate and House.

The two countries signed off on changes to the auto
provisions in December 2010, setting the stage for Obama to
finally submit the pact to Congress for approval more than 2-1/2
years after taking office.

(Editing by David Chance and Vicki Allen)

“This agreement with China will make it easier than ever
before for U.S. studios and independent filmmakers to reach the
fast-growing Chinese audience, supporting thousands of American
jobs in and around the film industry,” Vice President Joe Biden
said in a statement.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, whose office pursued the
agreement as Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping traveled across
the United States, said the pact would boost “one of America’s
strongest export sectors in one of our largest export markets.”

The agreement came during Xi’s stop in Los Angeles on the
last leg of a visit that began in Washington and went through
U.S. farm country in Iowa.

It does not require China to lift its annual quota of 20
foreign films per year, but essentially expands it through other
concessions that pleased Hollywood.

Beijing will permit 14 premium format films, such as IMAX or
3D, which will be exempt from the quota, as will the 2D versions
of the films, a U.S. trade official said.

The Chinese box office share for U.S. studios also will
increase under the master contract to 25 percent from around
13.5 percent to 17.5 percent, the official said.

“This is a major step forward in spurring the growth of U.S.
exports to China,” Chris Dodd, president of the Motion Picture
Association of America (MPAA), said. “It is tremendous news for
the millions of American workers and businesses whose jobs
depend on the entertainment industry.”

Walt Disney President and Chief Executive Robert A.
Iger said the deal would help U.S. movie makers grab a bigger
piece of the action in one of the fastest-growing film markets
in the world.

GROWING CHINESE BOX OFFICE

Chinese box office revenue grew to $2.1 billion last year,
with much of that coming from 3D titles, a rapidly growing
sector of the film industry.

“This agreement represents a significant opportunity to
provide Chinese audiences increased access to our films,” Iger
said.

The U.S. movie industry has long complained about China’s
tight restrictions on foreign films, which they say helps fuel
demand for pirated DVDs that are widely available in China.

The agreement announced on Friday grew out of a case
challenging China’s restrictions on importation and distribution
of copyright-protected materials won by the United States at the
World Trade Organization in 2009.

China subsequently took steps to improve market access for
books, newspapers, journals, DVDs and music, but the two sides
continued to haggle over films.

The pact strengthens opportunities to distribute films in
China through private enterprises rather than the state film
monopoly, and ensures fairer compensation levels for U.S. films
distributed by Chinese state-owned enterprises, Kirk’s office
said.

It allows any Chinese enterprise to be granted a license to
distribute imported films and contains a “robust set of
safeguard mechanisms” for U.S. enterprises, including audit
rights, a U.S. trade official said.

The pact will be reviewed after 5 years to ensure that it is
working as envisioned.

Xi, who is poised to become China’s president next year,
left a stream of business deals behind on his get-acquainted
tour of the United States.

Those included “Kung Fu Panda” studio Dreamworks Animation’s
venture to make films from Shanghai, and Chinese telecom giant
Huwei’s pledge to award $6 billion in contracts over three years
to Qualcomm Inc, Broadcom Corp and Avago
.

The Chinese trade delegation this week also inked deals to
buy a record 13.4 million tonnes of U.S. soybeans, valued at
$6.7 billion.

Xi, who is almost sure to become China’s next president in just over a year, laid out his views on ties with the United States in the keynote speech of his visit to Washington.

His message was dominated by reassuring vows of more balanced economic ties and more international cooperation. But he also stressed Beijing’s impatience with U.S. policies on Taiwan and Tibet — issues where many Chinese citizens expect their leaders to show they will stand up to foreign pressure.

“The world is currently undergoing profound changes, and China and the United States face shared challenges and shoulder shared responsibilities in international affairs,” Xi told a ballroom crowded with U.S. business executives, academics and policy-makers involved with China.

“We should further use bilateral and multilateral mechanisms to enhance coordination between China and the United States on hotspots, including developments on the Korean peninsula and the Iran nuclear issue,” said Xi.

Xi’s visit to the United States this week has given him a chance to boost his international standing before his likely promotion to the head of China’s ruling Communist Party later this year and president in early 2013.

Although his speech revealed no new policies, his offer to work with Washington on dealing with Iran and North Korea could ease U.S. worries that Xi (pronounced like “shee”) could take foreign policy in a more hawkish direction.

Despite Xi’s comments, both sides continued to prod each other on some of the issues that have fanned friction.

President Barack Obama took aim at China’s trade policies, saying he will not stand by when American’s competitors “don’t play by the rules.” [ID:nL2E8DFEUZ] And members of Congress pressed Xi on China’s detentions of human rights activists.

The Chinese vice president offered his own warnings about Tibet and Taiwan, two territories where Beijing fears that its claims could be undermined by Western pressure.

“History demonstrates that whenever each side handles relatively well the issues bearing on the other side’s core and major interests, then Sino-U.S. relations are quite smooth and stable. But when it is the contrary, there are incessant troubles,” he said.

Washington should “abide by the one-China policy and take concrete actions to oppose Taiwanese independence,” he said.

“We also hope that the United States will truly implement its recognition that Tibet is part of China and its vow to oppose Tibetan independence, acting prudently in issues concerning Tibet,” he added.

Tensions over Chinese control of Tibet have flared in past months when a succession of protests and self-immolations have exposed volatile discontent. Chinese officials have blamed those tensions on separatists or supporters of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist leader of the region.

In early 2010, the Obama administration’s decision to move forward with proposed arms sales to Taiwan triggered vehement criticism from Beijing, including warnings of sanctions against U.S. companies involved in the sales.

Those warnings petered out, but Xi made clear that Taiwan remains an acute concern for Beijing.

Xi acknowledged the Obama administration’s recent strategic “pivot” towards Asia, which will see a more mobile U.S. military presence, but warned Washington not to push too far.

“China welcomes the United States playing a constructive role in promoting the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, and at the same time we hope the U.S. side will truly respect the interests and concerns of countries in the region, including China,” said Xi.

Mounting maritime tensions in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to be one of the main geopolitical stress points in the coming decade.

“SPEAKING FRANKLY”

Xi, 58, is poised to become China’s next leader after a decade in which it has grown to become the world’s second largest economy while the United States has fought two wars and endured the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

Xi met with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Harry Reid on Wednesday morning and after his speech headed to Iowa for the next leg of his trip, which finishes later this week in Los Angeles.

Boehner’s office said his staff delivered a letter on the case of Gao Zhisheng, a dissident and human rights lawyer imprisoned in China. The House Speaker also expressed disappointment at China’ veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria.

Many U.S. lawmakers complain that China’s yuan currency is significantly undervalued, giving Chinese companies an unfair price advantage that helped lift the U.S. trade deficit with China to a record $295.5 billion in 2011.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner said on Wednesday that Beijing is letting its currency rise, but not fast enough.

“We think they have some ways to go, we would like them to move more quickly,” he told a congressional panel.

Xi said currency reforms already taken by Beijing helped boost U.S. exports to China to more than $100 billion in 2011 and has significantly reduced China’s overall trade surplus.

“China has become the United States’ fastest growing export market,” Xi said. “The trade surplus as a proportion of GDP has been falling from over seven percent to two percent, at a level internationally recognized as reasonable.”

In a bid to ease trade gap concerns, Chinese commercial delegations have been travelling across America signing orders while Xi visits. In Iowa, a delegation signed deals to buy 8.62 million tones of soybeans from the United States.

Xi repeated Beijing’s call for the United States to eliminate restrictions of exports of high-technology civilian goods, which he said would help bring trade into balance.

Beijing has given the Obama administration a framework for promoting two-way trade and investment, he said.

“Speaking frankly, an important aspect of addressing the imbalance in Chinese-U.S. trade is the United States’ own economic policies and structural adjustment,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai and Susan Cornwell in Washington and Laura MacInnis in Milwaukee; Editing by Anthony Boadle and Michael Perry)

“Sino-U.S. relations stand at a new historic starting
point,” China’s expected next leader told U.S. business groups
after meetings on Tuesday with President Barack Obama and other
top U.S. officials.

China and the United States should strive to create “a new
type of great power relationship for the 21st century,” Xi said.

But he said the two powers also had to “strive to avoid
misunderstandings and avert misjudgments” and should “truly
respect each other’s core interests and major concerns.”

Xi’s visit to United States this week presents a chance for
him to boost his international standing before his expected
promotion to head of China’s communist party later this year and
president of the world’s most populous nation in 2013.

Even as Xi continued his U.S. visit, Obama, at a
campaign-style stop in Milwaukee, took aim at China’s trade
practices, saying he will not stand idly by when American’s
competitors “don’t play by the rules.”

“I directed my administration to create a Trade Enforcement
Unit with one job: investigating unfair trade practices in
countries like China,” Obama told factory workers.

Xi met with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner
and Senate Majority Harry Reid on Wednesday morning and after
his speech was headed to Iowa for the next leg of his trip,
which finishes later this week in Los Angeles.

Xi addressed a number of sore spots in the U.S.-China
relationship, including Beijing’s currency policy.

Many U.S. lawmakers complain the yuan is significantly
undervalued, giving Chinese companies an unfair price advantage
that helped lift the U.S. trade deficit with China to a record
$295.5 billion in 2011.

Xi said currency reforms already taken by Beijing helped
boost U.S. exports to China to more than $100 billion in 2011
and has significantly reduced China’s overall trade surplus.

“China has become the United States’ fastest growing export
market,” Xi said. “The trade surplus as a proportion of GDP has
been falling from over seven percent to two percent, at a level
internationally recognized as reasonable.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner acknowledged on Wednesday
that Beijing is gradually letting its currency rise, but not
fast enough to please the United States.

“We think they have some ways to go, we would like them to
move more quickly,” he told a congressional panel.

SHARED CHALLENGES

Xi is poised to become China’s next leader following a
decade in which it has risen to become the world’s second
largest economy while the United States has fought two wars and
endured the deepest and longest recession since the Great
Depression that sapped its resources.

“The world is currently undergoing profound changes, and
China and the United States face shared challenges and shared
responsibilities in international affairs,” Xi said.

“We should further use bilateral and multilateral mechanisms
to enhance coordination between China and the United States on
hotspots, including developments on the Korean peninsula and the
Iran nuclear issue,” he said.

At the same time, he urged Washington not to support
movements in Taiwan and Tibet for independence.

China deems the self-ruled island of Taiwan to be an
illegitimate breakaway from mainland rule since 1949, and has
warned that the island must accept eventual reunification.

In recent years, tensions between the two sides of the
Taiwan Strait have eased as economic flows have grown. But
Beijing remains wary of U.S. involvement in the issue, which it
calls an internal affair.

In early 2010, the Obama administrations decision to move
forward with proposed arms sales to Taiwan triggered vehement
criticism from Beijing, including warnings of sanctions against
U.S. companies involved in the sales. Those warnings petered
out, but Xi made clear that Taiwan remains an acute concern for
Beijing’s dealings with Washington.

Tensions over Chinese control of Tibet have flared in past
months when a succession of protests and self-immolations have
exposed volatile discontent. Chinese officials have repeatedly
blamed those tensions on separatists or supporters of the Dalai
Lama, the exiled Buddhist leader of the region.

Xi also acknowledged the Obama administration’s recent
“pivot” toward Asia, but warned it not to push too far.

“China welcomes the United States playing a constructive
role in promoting the peace, stability and prosperity of the
Asia-Pacific region, and at the same time we hope the U.S. side
will truly respect the interests and concerns of countries in
the region, including China.”

The White House said the United States and China would establish an international working group that included other major providers of government-backed loan guarantees “with the goal of concluding an agreement by 2014.”

The announcement followed a meeting between President Barack Obama and China’s leader-in-waiting, Vice President Xi Jinping.

The two sides agreed to make “concrete progress towards a set of international guidelines on the provision of official export financing that, taking into account varying national interests and situations, are consistent with international best practices,” the White House said.

The United States, the 27 nations of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland already have rules on the use of government export credits under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a rich nations club.

China is not party to that pact and U.S. companies have complained that its cheap government-backed financing often makes it difficult to conclude sales.

“This is a welcome development, because China is not now under any export financing disciplines at all,” said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers.

“China is outside that (OECD) pact and has been undercutting everyone,” Vargo added, although he cautioned the reference in the White House statement to varying national interests and situations creates a “huge loophole” that could render any agreement with China meaningless.

The move comes as the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the country’s official export credit agency, is up for reauthorization in Congress and facing opposition from some Republicans on the grounds that it is “corporate welfare.”

That has prompted groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to launch a major lobbying campaign to get it renewed.

“Failure to reauthorize Ex-Im would amount to unilateral disarmament in the face of other nations’ aggressive trade finance programs … (and) put billions of dollars in U.S. exports and thousands of American jobs at risk,” business groups said in a letter on Tuesday to members of Congress.

They said China provides eleven times as much export financing as the United States, Japan more than five times as much and Canada three times as much.

“Frankly, the best thing would be for the United States to match China’s terms, as the Eximbank did in the case of supporting U.S. locomotive exports to Pakistan against a Chinese producer,” Vargo said.

“If China knows there is nothing to be gained in trying to undercut others, there will be more of an incentive to actually begin following the internationally accepted rules,” he said.

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Xavier Briand)

“This is designed to increase our capacity to bring additional trade cases that will level the playing field against countries around the world, including China,” White House economic advisor Gene Sperling told reporters on Monday.

The increased funding would be used to hire 50 to 60 new people and improve the coordination of U.S. government action against unfair foreign trade practices, he said.

The administration also proposed increasing funding for the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration by 14 percent to $517 million to help meet Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014.

Obama first outlined his plan for an interagency trade enforcement center last month in a speech to Congress.

He took particular aim at China, which he accused of lavishing subsidies on its companies and not doing enough to stop counterfeiting of American goods.

The budget proposal comes as China’s likely next leader, Vice President Xi Jinping, is headed to the United States for talks on Tuesday with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior administration officials.

The visit also comes on the heels of trade data on Friday, which showed the U.S. trade deficit with China widened again in 2011 to a record $295.5 billion.

‘PRIMARY FORUM’

Acting Commerce Deputy Secretary Rebecca Blank said $24 million of the new funding would go to the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and the remaining $2 million to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

The ITA houses the Foreign Commercial Service, which gathers intelligence on foreign markets and promotes U.S. exports around the world, and the Import Administration, which handles anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases.

The new interagency unit “will serve as the primary forum within the federal government for executive department and agencies to coordinate their enforcement of international and domestic trade rules,” Blank said.

Further details will follow in several weeks, including where the new workers will be assigned, but “the idea is that USTR and ITA together are going to help set this up,” she said.

Republicans welcomed the emphasis on enforcement, but were waiting for more details about the new unit.

“In addition, enforcement is only one side of the trade equation. We must still push forward aggressively with opening new markets,” said House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, expressing disappointment there was little in Obama’s budget on that front.

The Obama administration has filed five cases against China at the World Trade Organization since taking office in January 2009. It also used for the first time a special “safeguard” measure to curb tire imports from China and has slapped countervailing and anti-dumping duties on a number of Chinese goods it says were subsidized or unfairly priced.

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; editing by Christopher Wilson)

“It’s not really corporate welfare to put us on the same
playing field that our global competitors are on,” Immelt said
during a panel discussion on the future of American
manufacturing with Boeing Chairman Jim McNerney and Dow
Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris.

The Export-Import Bank is facing a tough reauthorization
fight in Congress.

Immelt, who also heads an outside economic advisory council
for President Barack Obama, said the United States needed the
nearly 80-year-old bank to compete against the European Union
and China in global markets for aircraft and other products.

“If you’re trying to sell a Boeing 737 MAX with GE engines
in Africa, you’ve got (to compete against) a fully subsidized
European superstructure and Chinese bank financing … I think
things like Exim are ways that we can level the playing field,”
Immelt said.

The conservative Republican group, Club for Growth, which is
influential with members of the Tea Party movement, has called
on Congress to kill Eximbank, which provides direct loans,
credit guarantees and other financial instruments to support
U.S. exports.

“The Export-Import Bank is a prime example of corporate
welfare that should have been eliminated years ago,” Club for
Growth President Chris Chocola said on Jan. 31. “By picking
winners and losers, politicians and bureaucrats are distorting
trade flows. It’s time to end the Eximbank for good.”

The bank has played an increasing role in supporting U.S.
exports since Obama took office.

That’s largely due to the lingering effects of the global
financial crisis, which dried up other sources of export
financing. But Obama’s goal of doubling exports in five years
has also increased the bank’s activity.

After two back-to-back record years, Eximbank’s total
credit exposure is now more than $90 billion, close to the $100
billion limit set by Congress.

Some lawmakers want to increase the exposure cap to around
$135 billion as part of the bank’s proposed reauthorization.

In a letter last week to congressional leaders, the National
Association of Manufacturers said it was vital that Eximbank be
reauthorized for four more years before its current short-term
extension expires on May 31.

“The Eximbank is the only tool American manufacturers have
to counter the huge sums of export financing – many hundreds of
billions of dollars – that other governments provide their
exporters,” NAM Vice President Frank Vargo said. “If American
manufacturers lose access to the Eximbank, our ability to
compete globally will be severely curtailed.”