China's Vice Premier Sees "Chronic Global Recession"; Why this Astonishing Admission?

Reuters - A long-term global recession is certain to happen and China must focus on domestic problems, Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan has said.

International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde met Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan on Saturday in Beijing, where they discussed reforming the IMF, state media reported.Lagarde is in Beijing on a two-day trip to attend a forum on China's development, where she will give the opening address.State news agency Xinhua reported the IMF chief and Wang discussed reform of the fund, but did not give further details.IMF spokesman Gerry Rice had said ahead of the meeting that discussions in Beijing "would touch on a broad number of important issues".

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will expand its value-added tax reform to more industries including telecommunications, railways and construction and make it nationwide, Vice Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. Li, widely regarded as China's premier-in-waiting, made the remarks at a recent conference, Xinhua said. ...

Commerce, USTR and USDA welcome concrete results in trade negotiations, reiterate need to achieve greater market access for U.S. exportersToday marked the conclusion of the 22nd session of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Chengdu, China.  U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson and United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk co-chaired the JCCT along with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack also participated in the discussions. Secretary Bryson, Ambassador Kirk and Secretary Vilsack announced meaningful progress on key elements of the U.S.-China trade relationship but also underscored that much more work remains to be done to open China’s market to U.S. exports and investment.  Today’s progress will help boost U.S. exports and jobs through the removal of important barriers related to electric vehicles, strengthened measures to eliminate discriminatory indigenous innovation policies, and stricter enforcement of intellectual property rights in China.  “The JCCT gives us a mechanism to address the toughest issues in our trade relationship, and we must judge it by our ability to make concrete progress,” Ambassador Kirk said. “We have reached agreement on a number of important outcomes, though we had hoped to accomplish even more. In our discussions with our Chinese counterparts, we spoke frankly about the need to redouble our efforts going forward.” “Both sides worked hard to produce some meaningful progress that will help provide a needed boost to U.S. exports and jobs,” Secretary Bryson said. “This is a step in the right direction. But we must continue to actively engage our Chinese counterparts to open additional opportunities for U.S. businesses.” “China is one of the most important agricultural trade partners for the United States and the meetings and discussions in recent days have helped to strengthen this partnership and build greater export opportunities for our farmers, ranchers and growers,” said Agriculture Secretary Vilsack. “We intend to continue these discussions in the months ahead on beef and other agricultural products to break down additional trade barriers so Chinese consumers can benefit from the high quality products that are produced in America.”

By Joseph E. Gagnon Today, we're fortunate to have Joe Gagnon, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, as a guest contributor.