Wednesday’s New York Times article (“U.S. Shifts Focus to Press China for Market Access”), which describes the many difficulties that U.S. businesses face in China, illustrates that concerns over U.S. firms’ access to the Chinese marketplace should not be overshadowed by concerns such as China’s undervalued currency or lax intellectual property protection enforcement.   Greater access to China’s fast-growing middle class would further expand the market for U.S. goods and services, boost U.S. economic growth, and create American jobs at a time when we need it most.

While the article focused on the difficulties that high-value manufacturing and technology firms face in China, it ignored completely another critical industry sector: financial services.

Greater market-opening reforms in China’s financial services sector will help China achieve its economic goals, including building a more services-based, consumer-driven economy, while also reducing the substantial trade imbalance that exists between the two nations.

As President Obama and President Hu work together to address the increasingly important U.S.-China economic partnership, they must realize that providing  foreign financial services firms greater access to China’s marketplace will benefit both nations by promoting U.S. economic growth and job creation and continuing the necessary reform and modernization of China’s fast-growing economy.