The United States and China continued multilateral negotiations on China's accession to the WTO throughout 2000. In preparation for accession, the Chinese government launched a campaign to align domestic laws and regulations with WTO rules. But a number of problems continue to plague the bilateral trade relationship. Imports of products ranging from cosmetics to medical equipment are required to undergo duplicative and expensive quality and safety inspection procedures. Imports of agricultural products such as grain, poultry and citrus have been arbitrarily blocked.
Transparency continues to be an issue for both foreign and domestic firms.
Inconsistent notification and application of existing laws and regulations create problems for businesses. China has made improvements in its intellectual property rights protection regime, but a high level of product counterfeiting and copyright piracy continues. These include the bananas regime, bans on U.S. beef from livestock treated with hormones and on U.S. bio-engineered products, member state government financial support to the aircraft industry, and widely differing EU standards, testing, and certification procedures. Many U.S. trade concerns stem from the lack of transparency in the development of EU regulations. The United States views transparency and public participation as essential to promote more effective trans-Atlantic regulatory cooperation, to achieve better quality regulation, and to help minimize possible trade disputes.