The US-China trade relationship will substantially benefit from China's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO), a US business leader has said.
"I think the relationship between the United States and China on trade is going to be very much like the relationship between close friends," Jerry Jasinowski, president of US National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.
With China's accession into WTO, he said, the United States is going to have an opportunity of a much larger market and the two sides could share each other's market.
"We'll see substantial benefits by both investing and selling more in China. And they are exporting here," Jasinowski said, noting that NAM will continue to support and increase trade and investment in China.
The NAM president expressed optimism that the two countries could solve problems which may appear in their trade relationship.
Jasinowski stroke a positive note over the current state of the US economy, saying that the US could technically avoid a recession.
Citing as positive aspects, he said that "we have been clearing up inventories and we have a pro-growth monetary policy in place, and consumption remains strong."
According to Jasinowski, the low point in the current economic cycle will be in the second quarter this year, the third quarter will show some positive signs, and in the fourth quarter, the US economy may move on a 2.5 percent growth.
The NAM president expressed concerns over the slowdown in the European economy and hoped that the Japanese economy will not get worse. As the US economy is five times larger than the Germany's, he said, it is crucial to the global economy for the US economy to get back on track as early as possible.
(People's Daily 08/31/2001)