US treasury secretary John Snow at trade talks

October 10 1. Various of John Snow, US Treasury Secretary exiting car and meeting with Sadakazu Tanigaki, Japanese Finance Minister October 11 2. Snow enters news conference 3. Cutaway media 4. SOUNDBITE (English) John Snow, US Treasury Secretary: "We're anxious to see the Chinese fulfil the commitment they made to allow market forces to play a larger role in setting their currency value, the exchange value of their currency over time. And they've got onto a path that allows them to do so, they've made a commitment to do do. And we'd like to see China continue on that path and see more flexibility." 5. Wide of news conference 6. SOUNDBITE (English) John Snow, US Treasury Secretary: "The United States is absolutely committed to a free-trade regime, an open market regime to taking down barriers to trade. We're hopeful that the Hong Kong negotiations, discussions will be fruitful. That subject was on the agenda for discussion last night with our Japanese counterparts. And I'm encouraged, I wouldn't say confident, but encouraged by things we see happening." 7. Snow exits news conference STORYLINE: US Treasury Secretary John Snow applauded China for taking steps to unlink its currency from the dollar but urged it to take further steps to strengthen the yuan at a news conference in Tokyo. In July, China said it was halting a decade-long practice of pegging the value of the yuan to the dollar and instead would link it to a market basket of currencies. The Chinese announced that the yuan's value would rise immediately by 2.1 percent against the dollar, going from 8.28 yuan to 8.11 yuan per dollar. However, since that time, the yuan's value against the dollar has been essentially unchanged. American manufacturers contend the Chinese currency is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving China a huge competitive advantage. Snow also reaffirmed that new offers from the United States and European Union to cut aid to their farmers could herald a breakthrough in deadlocked global trade talks, just two months before a deadline for a framework treaty. US Trade Representative Rob Portman laid out a new proposal on agricultural tariffs and subsidies Monday, saying the EU and Japan must now promise to do more to cut aid to their own farmers. The EU responded with a proposal to make deeper cuts in subsidies to its own farmers. At a Hong Kong summit scheduled for the end of the year the WTO's 148 members are supposed to agree on an outline for a global trade deal as part of the Doha round of negotiations. But progress has stalled, largely because of the thorny issue of US and EU farm subsidies. The Doha round - named for the Qatari capital where it was launched in 2001 - is set to conclude next year. It sets out to boost the global economy by lowering trade barriers across all sectors, with particular emphasis on developing countries, for whom farm subsidies are a particularly sensitive topic. According to the US offer, Washington would make cuts of 60 percent in trade-distorting farm subsidies on the condition that EU and Japan to make cuts of 80 percent, since their subsidy levels are higher. Snow met with Japanese Finance Minster Sadakazu Tanigaki Monday. Snow also met with Japanese business leaders before flying Tuesday to China to visit financial institutions and join other finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 countries, composed of the world's richest nations and major emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. After the summit, Snow will join Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at the US-China Joint Economic Commission, which serves as a regular forum for US and Chinese officials to discuss economic issues. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/665bddaf8abe78844ab3c17154242377 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork