[JURIST] US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez [official profile] called illegal copying of American products the top trade issue between the US and China Thursday at the start of his first official trip to China. In April, the US put China on a "priority watch list" [JURIST report] for intellectual property law violations. Gutierrez visited Russia this week to address similar concerns [text of speech]. The US estimates that the global trade in counterfeit goods costs the American economy $250 billion each year, and has contributed to a record $162-billion trade deficit with China [Bloomberg report]. Reuters has more.