Baucus and Grassley urged the administration leaders to press Chinese officials to meet commitments made to the world economic community, including trade, currency, safety, and financial sector reform.

The letter came ahead of meetings of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) over the coming week, in which Senators said they hoped significant strides could be made.

The letter stated:

"First, we must ensure that China lives up to commitments it made in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the JCCT, and the SED. We recognize the progress that China has made in certain areas; however we remain deeply concerned that many of these promises remain unfulfilled."

"Second, we must ensure that American and Chinese consumers have confidence in the US- China economic relationship. That means fostering confidence in the safety of food and product imports by boosting meaningful regulatory standards and intergovernmental cooperation. It also means ensuring that no economy gains unfair advantage in trade through unacceptable policies and practices, including unfair exchange rate regimes or discriminatory domestic regulations."

"Third, a sustainable US-China economic relationship requires that we continue to build on past successes and aspire to ambitious and mutually beneficial policies for the future. For instance, continued liberalization of and increased foreign participation in China’s financial services sector will benefit both economies."

The two men concluded by observing that:

"The evolving US-China economic relationship entails numerous complexities and challenges. It also holds great potential for enhancing trans-Pacific economic prosperity to the direct benefit of American companies, workers, farmers and ranchers. Measurable progress on the issues we have
highlighted will help set the stage for realizing these opportunities."