GENEVA, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. trade official said on Friday the United States expected China to become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the end of this year.
"China can get in this year. We feel in the United States very confident that it can be done this year," Rita Hayes, the U.S. trade ambassador to the Geneva-based WTO, told reporters.
The United States, Japan and Canada reached separate agreements with Beijing last year to allow it to join the 135-member WTO. The 15-nation European Union (EU) remains the biggest trade power not yet to have reached a deal with China.
Hayes was speaking ahead of negotiations in Beijing on Monday between an EU delegation headed by senior European Commission trade official Hans-Friedrich Beseler and a Chinese team led by Vice Foreign Trade Minister Long Yongtu.
U.S. officials and EU negotiators are "communicating back and forth" and working together in the process, Hayes said.
"It is very important for us to have all our trading partners on board and work with the EU to make sure they have completed their negotiations with China," she said.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in Washington on Thursday that a deal could be finalised in as little as one month but warned talks could stumble and drag on for eight months or more.
Hayes conceded "we still have some problems."
Washington has urged the EU and China to wrap up their negotiations quickly to help a vote on the U.S.-China deal in Congress, where it is expected to face a tough challenge.:
