China has agreed to "significantly" increase market access to US movies as part of outstanding issues following a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute, according to Vice President Joe Biden.
The deal, announced as Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping ended a US trip, will allow over 50 percent more US movies into China, added the Motion Picture Association (MPAA), while Biden did not put numbers on the increase.
Citing Biden, a White House statement said the deal will "allow significantly more job-supporting US film exports to China and provide fairer compensation to US film producers for the movies being shown there.
"This agreement with China will make it easier than ever before for US studios and independent filmmakers to reach the fast-growing Chinese audience, supporting thousands of American jobs in and around the film industry.
"At the same time, Chinese audiences will have access to more of the finest films made anywhere in the world," added Biden, who spent the day in Los Angeles with Xi, before the Chinese leader's departure.
The comments were made in a statement shortly before the end of Xi's five-day trip to the United States which began in Washington and Iowa before a final 36 hours in California.
The agreement allows more American exports to China of 3D, IMAX, and similar enhanced format movies "on favorable commercial terms," said the White House.
A Chinese quota system restricts the number of foreign movies coming into the country annually to 20. In 2009 the WTO ruled against Chinese limits on the import of films, DVDs, music and books, but little has changed.
The deal was welcomed by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who said US studios and independent filmmakers see China "as one of their most important world markets.
"But barriers imposed by China and challenged by the United States in the WTO have artificially reduced the revenue US film producers received from their movies in the Chinese market," he said.
"This agreement will help to change that, boosting one of America's strongest export sectors in one of our largest export markets."
The Motion Picture Association (MPAA) also hailed the accord.
"This landmark agreement will return a much better share of the box office revenues to US studios, revising a two-decade-old formula that kept those revenues woefully under normal commercial terms," said MPAA boss Chris Dodd,
"It will put into place a mechanism that will allow over 50 percent more US films into the Chinese market," he added.
"By promoting the growth of a legitimate marketplace for US movies in China, this agreement will also complement efforts to fight movie piracy and help protect the jobs of workers in both countries, whose livelihoods are dependent on a healthy entertainment industry."
The Chinese film market is large and growing quickly; last year, box office revenue was up to $2.1 billion, much of it from 3D titles, which are a rapidly growing sector of the film industry, said the White House.
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