The dialogue between President Obama and China's President Hu Jintao this week in Washington covered many issues. Most relevant to our industry are the economy and trade, on which they said:

Obama: "We discussed China's progress in moving toward a more market-oriented economy and how we can ensure a strong and balanced global economic recovery. We agreed that in China, this means boosting domestic demand; here in the United States, it means spending less and exporting more."

Hu: "We will continue to appropriately resolve (disagreements in the economic and trade areas) according to the principle of mutual respect and consultation on an equal footing ... We champion free trade and oppose protectionism...."

These are the principles, and specific deals and polices are expected to follow through in the coming months and years.

In a gesture to support the consensus on trade balance, China brought its checkbook, inking deals for aircraft, heavy machinery, agricultural products and software that could be worth $45 billion for U.S. companies and support some 235,000 American jobs.

China also pledged to give U.S. companies more equal treatment, delink its innovation policies from its government procurement preferences, and do more to protect their intellectual property.

It seems to me that this round of talks put a high priority on China allowing U.S. firms that export to China -- and U.S. firms already in China -- to benefit more from the booming Chinese domestic market. There was less emphasis on long-standing and unsolved trade issues like the undervalued Chinese currency.

That's the message for everyone: Try to grab a piece of the Chinese market as quickly as possible. If you can't beat them, join them.