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Friction over trade tests U.S. - China ties By Steven R. Weisman Published: Monday, July 30, 2007 A year after the United States began a high-level strategic economic dialogue with China, the word dialogue hardly seems to apply. In the last eight months, the Bush administration has talked - and talked and talked - to China about economic issues. But it has also filed legal challenges over Chinese tariffs on auto parts, export subsidies and counterfeiting of videos and DVDs, and it is weighing possible punitive duties on a range of goods. The Chinese charge that the administrations actions are aimed at placating Congress and that they violate the spirit of the discourse they agreed to join at the behest of the U.S. Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson Jr., last summer. They also express concerns that the administration may be using food safety as a weapon with which to beat them up. But Paulson and other administration officials say the recent spate of tough actions, including those on food and product safety, reflect the maturing of economic ties. We always knew there were going to be problems, even when we started the SED, Paulson said, referring to the strategic economic dialogue. But the SED was never about eliminating the problems; it was about how you manage the problems in a professional way to keep this relationship on an even keel. Congress, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with plans to punish China if it does not improve its record on economic issues, especially the level of its currency, which most economists say China is keeping artificially low to make its exports cheaper. Two groups of senators have gotten into a squabble over which committee has jurisdiction over the legislation, which is opposed by the Bush administration. Indeed, U.S. officials frankly hope that the lawmakers dispute prevents action that would further roil relations with China. To keep the dialogue going, Paulson arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his fourth visit in a year. No other countr