April 12,2006

Grassley Looks for Concrete Action After U.S.-China Trade Commission Meeting

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting
Da: Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Last night the United States and China announced the results of the 17th annual senior-level
meeting of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). Sen. Chuck Grassley,
chairman of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over international trade, made the following
comments on the outcome.

“It looks like there were some positive developments at this year’s meeting. But lofty
statements coming from a meeting don’t mean a thing if there isn’t follow-through. So the question
now is, how long will it take to actually achieve the good objectives, including reopening the
Chinese market to U.S. beef? I’ll be keeping a very close eye on what happens in the weeks and
months ahead.”

Grassley and Sen. Max Baucus, ranking member, last month introduced bipartisan legislation
that would give the United States more trade enforcement tools to encourage U.S. trading partners
to adhere to their trade obligations. The United States Trade Enhancement Act of 2006 has 12
bipartisan co-sponsors.