The bilateral trade volume between China and the United States is expected to hit US$73.5 billion this year, an all-time high figure, trade experts predict.

Along with the stable development of the Sino-US relations, this year has seen rapid growth of trade. The final settlement of the permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) issue, in particular, has helped fuel the trade growth between the two giants.

Chinese statistics show that the two-way trade in the first 10 months of this year reached US$61.32 billion, up 23.4 percent from the same period last year. The figure for the first ten months of the year is about the same volume of US$61.48 billion for the whole of last year.

China exported US$43.37 billion worth of goods to the US during the ten months, up 27.2 percent. The main exports were footwear, clothing, toys, electric appliances, general machinery and machine tools, hardware products, lamps and furniture.

During the period China imported US$17.96 billion worth of US products, mainly agricultural products, aircraft, power station equipment, equipment related to petroleum exploitation, electronic products, chemical products and machinery. The amount of imports increased by 15.1 percent over the same period last year.

The US continues to be China's second largest trade partner after Japan, and China is the fourth largest trade partner of the US.

In the meantime, direct investment from the US into China has kept increasing over the past two decades. During the first 11 months of this year, the number of newly approved US-invested ventures in China totaled 2,301, involving a contractual investment of US$7.33 billion. The materialized investment from the US totaled US$3.59 billion.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), the total number of US-invested ventures in China reached 30,929, involving a contractual investment of US$59.7 billion. The actually used investment was US$29.3 billion, making the US the largest overseas investor in China for three consecutive years.

The US investment covered a wide range of areas including machinery, metallurgy, petroleum exploitation, electronics, telecommunications, chemical, textiles and light industries, food, agriculture, medicine, real estate, finance, insurance, foreign trade, accounting and shipping services, according to MOFTEC.

Trade experts in Beijing say that China and the United States are highly complementary in trade and economic cooperation. The growing trade and economic cooperation have benefited both sides.

"It not only helps reinforce bilateral political ties, but also create huge job opportunities," said an expert with the MOFTEC. " It has also helped enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and the US peoples. Trade and economic relations have become an important component of China-US relations."

(Xinhua 12/24/2000)