US, China seek imports safety deal by 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and China are "in the final phases" of working out deals on import safety after a wave of recalls of Chinese goods and hope to sign it by 2008, a top US official said Tuesday.
"We are working, right now, in the final phases of negotiating agreements with China on food and feed, on drugs and devices," US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told reporters.
"We hope to sign these agreements later this year at the next session of the strategic economic dialogue in Beijing," he said in a briefing at the White House. "These will be groundbreaking agreements."
He declined to offer details, but said "we have to take two regulatory systems and find ways to make them work together. They don't have to be identical. They simply have to have common objectives and well-defined outcomes."
Leavitt said China -- source of recalled products from tainted toothpaste to toys with dangerous levels of lead -- understand US concerns, which some analysts say will shape year's end holiday shopping.
"They know now that if they want to produce goods for the United States, they've got to meet our standards and we've been working aggressively to solve that," said Leavitt.
His comments came as US President George W. Bush embraced a report on import safety, which he had commissioned in July after a wave of recalls of unsafe products, many from China.
Asked what worried US parents should do to avoid potentially deadly gifts, Leavitt replied: "I am parent. I am a grandparent with three little toddlers. And this has occurred to me. And here's my advice: Buy from people you trust."
