Bilateral Trade, Economic Relations & Technological Cooperation

1. Bilateral Trade

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States in 1979, the bilateral trade has witnessed fairly rapid growth. Especially in recent years, trade between the two countries has maintained a sound momentum of rapid growth. According to statistics from the Chinese Customs, the two-way trade volume reached US$54.94 billion in 1998, a 12.1% increase over that of 1997. China's exports to the U.S. reached US$37.98 billion, an increase of 16.1%, while China's imports from the U.S. reached US$16.96 billion, an increase of 4.0%. China saw a favorable trade balance of US$21.02 billion in 1998. In the period from January to June 1999, China-U.S. bilateral trade volume totaled US$27.12 billion, increasing by 11.5% over that of the first half of 1998, with China's exports to the U.S. reaching US$18.11 billion, an increase of 8.4%, and China's imports from the U.S. US$9.00 billion.

The primary items that China imported from the U.S. were fertilizer, airplanes, chemical products, medical care instruments, etc., while China's exports were mainly textile, clothing, shoes, suitcases and machinery. The U.S. remains as China's second largest trading partner while China continues to be the fourth largest trading partner of the U.S..

China-U.S. bilateral trade, investment,economic and technological cooperation maintained good momentum of development in 2000. According to statistics from the Chinese Customs, the two way trade volume totaled US$74.47 billion, a 21.1% increase over that of 1999. China's exports to the U.S. amounted to US$52.1 billion, an increase of 24.2%, while China's imports from the U.S. reached US$22.36 billion, up 14.5%. China saw a favorable trade balance of US$29.74 billion in 2000. The U.S. remains as China's second largest trading partner while China continues to be the fourth largest trading partner of the U.S.

2. Bilateral Investment

With China's continuously improved investment environment in recent years, the U.S. enterprises' enthusiasm to invest in China remains high. In 1998, U.S. businesses invested in 2,215 projects in China, with the agreed-upon investment valued at US$6.21billion and the actual inflow of investment valued at US$3.91 billion, which represented an increase of 1.2%, 25.8% and 20.8% respectively over those in 1997. From January to July 1999, U.S. invested in 1,163 projects in China, with the agreed-upon investment valued at US$3.49billion and the actual inflow of investment valued at US$2.22 billion, which represented an increase of 0.52%, 5.04% and 12% respectively. By the end of July 1999, the U.S.-invested projects reached a total of 27,744, with the agreed-upon investment valued at US$49.8billion and the actual inflow of investment valued at US$23.63 billion. U.S. businesses have invested in such fields as machinery, metallurgy, petroleum, electronics, telecommunications, chemical industry, textile, light industries, food agriculture, medicine, real estate as well in the pilot opening-up sectors of finance, insurances, foreign trade, accounting, freight transport service, etc. Many U.S. businesses are doing very well in China and have decided to invest even more in their operations.

3. High-Level Economic and Trade Exchanges

Thanks to the efforts by the two governments and business communities, great achievements have been made in China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation in recent years. From late October to early November 1997, President Jiang Zemin paid a successful state visit to the U.S., giving a strong impetus to the development of an all-round bilateral relationship, including a sound trade and economic relationship. In June 1998, during President Bill Clinton's state visit to China, China and the U.S. had a broad and in-depth discussion on a wide range of issues, and signed the Agreement on Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation.