INTERNATIONAL

Kantor Praises China’s Offer to Cut Tariffs: But U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor also warned that more trade barriers must be dismantled before the Chinese can expect to join the World Trade Organization. Chinese President Jiang Zemin announced this week that China will cut tariffs from an average of 36% to 25% on 4,000 products. “We welcome the step forward,” Kantor told reporters, but added, “It obviously doesn’t resolve all the concerns about China’s WTO accession.” The United States, whose trade deficit with China has surged by 24% this year and is running at an annual rate of $33 billion, has been at the forefront of the effort to keep the Asian country out of the new global trade organization until it does more to lower trade barriers.