China US Photo:GT

 
China-US trade volume grew 35.4 percent from January to September in dollar terms from last year, Chinese customs statistics revealed on Wednesday. 

Although the growth rate was slightly lower than the 36.6-percent-growth in the first eight months, bilateral trade volume still hit $543 billion from January to September. Experts expected this year’s bilateral trade will surpass the level before the China-US trade war in 2018 to reach $700 billion as trade relations between the two countries are getting back to normal.

The growth showed the intertwining character of the world's two largest economies and a strong recovery of the economies from the COVID-19, which will drive global economic recovery as two leading engines, Tian Yun, former vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"It shows that China and the US are deepening economic and trade connections and getting back to a normal track since President Joe Biden took office," he said. 

In the first three quarters, China's exports to the US increased 32.9 percent year-on-year while imports from the US jumped 43.5 percent in dollar terms. It is expected the bilateral trade will exceed the $630 billion that was achieved in 2018, he said.

A survey on US companies' optimism about their operation in China also echoes the forecast.

A report by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in September showed that nearly 78 percent of the 338 respondents surveyed described themselves as either optimistic or slightly optimistic about the five-year business outlook, up 20 percent from the year 2020 and a return to the figures the world had witnessed before the most brittle days of the China-US trade war, according to the report.

China and the US are an inseparable community of shared interests, even under the background of US-initiated decoupling attempt, serious global supply chain interruption and the impact of the pandemic, said Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng in an interview with CGTN on Tuesday. 

The bilateral trade between China and the US increased by 8.8 percent year-on-year in 2020.