I. Sustainable and balanced economic growth

The United States and China have responded to the global economic crisis with comprehensive stimulus measures that have played a critical role

in boosting confidence and supporting global demand, and will respectively take measures to promote balanced and sustainable economic growth in our domestic economies both to ensure a strong recovery from the international financial crisis and to bring about more balanced and sustainable global economic growth after a global recovery is firmly established. To this end, both countries will enhance communication and the exchange of information regarding macro-economic policy, and will work together to pursue policies of adjusting domestic demand and relative prices to lead to more sustainable and balanced trade and growth. Both sides will also pursue forward-looking monetary policies with due regard for the ramifications of those policies for the international economy. In addition, they will encourage new approaches to infrastructure financing to assist with economic recovery.

The United States will take measures to increase national saving as a share of GDP. The US household saving rate has already risen sharply as a result of the crisis, contributing to a significant decline in the US current account deficit, and the United States will adopt policies that will continue to encourage household saving. The United States will also reform its health care system with the aim of controlling rising health care costs for businesses and government while assuring high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, and is committed to reducing the federal budget deficit relative to GDP to a sustainable level by 2013.

China will continue to implement structural and macroeconomic policies to stimulate domestic demand and increase the contribution of consumption to GDP growth. China will further enhance access in its service market and expand areas and channels for non-government investment, with a view to expedite the development of its services industry and increase the share of services in GDP. China will also deepen social safety net reform, including strengthening its basic old-age insurance system and enterprise annuities.