April 20,2006

Grassley: Action Should Follow Chinese President's Words on Trade

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: President Hu’s visit, remarks
Da: Thursday, April 20, 2006

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over
international trade, today made the following comment on Chinese President Hu Jintao’s remarks
during his visit to the White House.

“It was good to hear President Hu mention the importance of creating opportunities for
improving the balance in our bilateral trade relations. As he himself said, China needs to take
positive steps to reform its currency, to expand market access in China and increase imports, and to
strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. Now we’ll see what comes of those remarks.
Good words need to be followed by concrete action. If not, that’ll only increase the frustration in
Congress that China’s not living up to its commitments. I wrote a letter to Vice Premier Wu Yi last
week to convey the same message. One test will be to see how soon China reopens its market to U.S.
beef. I’ll be watching developments closely in the weeks and months ahead in all of these areas.”