The governments of China and India are beginning to more intensely engage with stakeholders in their domestic high-tech industries about which priorities they might pursue in an ongoing effort in Geneva to expand the list of products covered by the tariff-cutting Information Technology Agreement (ITA), according to a U.S. industry official. China, which observers see as generally supportive of ITA expansion, is now taking the concrete step of talking with its industry about what its offensive interests would be if and when expansion talks really get going, according to John Neuffer, vice president for global policy at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). This level of engagement is a positive sign that China will end up being a solid supporter of the talks, he argued. "I myself have had a number of conversations with the Chinese government, and I'll say that over the months of discussions with them, they are more and more engaged internally, so we expect them to be supporters of this thing," Neuffer said during a Sept. 24 conference call. Last March, China expressed support for ITA expansion, but Neuffer's comments appear to signal that Beijing is more seriously considering the issue {Inside U.S. Trade, April 6).
展开▼
