WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to address the issue of China's currency system during his upcoming visit and said Hu must understand the issues raised by America's $202 billion trade deficit with his nation.
Bush, labeling America's relationship with China "complex," said his agenda for the talks next week would include "fairness in trade as well as human rights and freedom of religion."
Hu will meet with Bush at the White House on April 20 during his first official visit to Washington. The administration is facing growing unhappiness in an election year over a record $202 billion trade deficit with China, the highest ever recorded with a single country.
"The visit of Hu Jintao will be an interesting and important visit," Bush told students during a question and answer session at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Study.
"He's coming into a country where there's over a $200 billion trade deficit and a lot of Americans are wondering where's the equity in trade," Bush said. "I think he could help the Americans understand the importance of a free-trading world if he were to maybe make a statement on his currency, for example."
The administration has been pressuring China for more than two years to allow its currency to rise in value against the U.S. dollar to help narrow the trade deficit. American manufacturers contend China is unfairly depressing the value of its currency by up to 40 percent against the dollar to make Chinese goods cheaper in America and U.S. products more expensive in China.
Bush also mentioned the issue of the widespread copyright piracy of American movies, music and computer software as another trade issue he would discuss with Hu.
In advance of Hu's visit, top economic officials from both countries will meet in Washington on Tuesday at the 17th annual meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, which was created to smooth trade problems between the two nations.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman will head up the U.S. delegation while Vice Premier Wu Yi will lead the Chinese delegation.
U.S. trade officials who briefed reporters Monday said they expected Tuesday's discussions would cover the areas of copyright piracy, where American companies claim they are losing billions of dollars in lost sales; regulatory barriers to the export of various American products and services to China, and China's ban on U.S. beef imports.
The currency question is being dealt with in talks between the U.S. Treasury Department and China's Finance Ministry.
The Chinese delegation began a 13-state buy-America tour last Thursday in Los Angeles with reports that the Chinese may spend as much as $15 billion in purchasing U.S. products.
Major trade deals are expected to be signed covering Chinese purchases of Boeing jetliners, computer software, auto parts, telecommunication products and farm goods.
Worried that the rising anger against China could hurt Republican chances at the polls in November, the administration has been sounding a tougher line. Last month, it filed an unfair-trade case against China involving U.S. auto parts and pledged to file more cases unless negotiations start showing results.
If progress isn't made over the next two weeks, industry groups are warning there could be a backlash in Congress.
"Everything is on pause waiting for these meetings," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international relations at the National Association of Manufacturers. "If nothing comes out of them, that can fan the flames of those in Congress who want to take matters into their own hands."
But some analysts said that China's attempt to use the buying trip to counter rising anger in this country may not work.
"We get the strong sense that the degree of frustration with China is accelerating very sharply and is not likely to be assuaged by a few orders that likely would have been placed anyway," said C. Fred Bergsten, head of the Institute for International Economics, which along with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has published "China: the Balance Sheet," a new book reviewing relations between the two countries.