US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Thursday warned China against repeating the protectionist "folly" the West undertook after World War II, urging Beijing to make meaningful trade reforms.
Speaking a week ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington, Locke called on Beijing to back up reformist "statements of principle" with "concrete results."
Complaining that US firms still face massive hurdles in doing business in China, from discrimination to the theft of intellectual property, Locke said words were no longer enough.
"We are at a turning point in the US-China economic partnership," he told the US-China Business Council.
"The policies and practices that have shaped our relations over the past few decades will not suffice over the next few decades."
He pointed to "lax" protection of copyright in China as one point of frustration, with government statements not being codified at state and local level or being fully implemented.
"In our march toward industrialization, we sometimes protected native industries," Locke admitted, but he cautioned the emerging giant that "those policies were folly then, and they are surely folly now."
Warning that China can no longer depend on exports alone, Locke said "the debt-fueled consumption binge in developed countries like America must end."
"We need a more equitable commercial partnership."
Earlier Thursday the Commerce Department reported the US trade gap with China had grown 0.5 percent in November, on track to top 2008's record deficit.
In the first 11 months of 2010 the deficit hit $252 billion compared with $268 for all of 2008.
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