China US

China-US trade growth slowed to 6.8 percent in yuan terms in the first 10 months of the year, data released by Chinese customs showed on Monday as US tariffs and chips ban curbed growth, experts said.

According to data from Chinese customs, China-US trade rose by 6.8 percent year-on-year to 4.21 trillion yuan ($581 billion) from January to October. Growth slowed from 8 percent in the January-September period.

For the year through October, Chinese exports to the US slowed to an 8.4 percent pace to 3.25 trillion yuan, down from 10.1 percent recorded as of September. Imports from the US grew by 1.7 percent as of October to 953 billion yuan, faster than the 1.3 percent pace from January to September.

The trade surplus with the US expanded 11.4 percent to 2.3 trillion yuan as of October.

It is noteworthy that the growth rate between the two countries is below China's overall trade growth in the first 10 month which came in at 9.5 percent year-on-year, as some sectors of China-US trade have encountered headwinds, which prevented the two countries from fully realizing their economic and trade potential, experts said.

A variety of factors, including tariffs placed on a wide range of Chinese goods and US' ban on Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment have greatly curbed the bilateral trade, Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing told the Global Times on Monday.

Despite the decoupling attempts by the US government, the US remains China's third largest trading partner after ASEAN and EU, accounting for 12.2 percent of China's total trading value from January to October, the customs data showed.

The growth rate of China-US trade is still impressive against the background of uncertainties of the current global trade landscape and the US' decoupling push, Gao said.

It is noteworthy that Chinese side, including part of the US business community, are still working towards expanding China-US trade relations, experts said.

Speaking at a round table meeting with US multinational enterprises on November 1, officials from  the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the Chinese government, as always, welcomes companies from all over the world, including those from the US, to come and develop in China.

"The integration into high-quality development of the Chinese economy serves US enterprises' own interests and contributes to stable recovery of the global economy," Gao Jian, an official with NDRC said .

Several US business groups expressed confidence for Chinese market at the on-going China International Import Expo (CIIE). US-China Business Council President Craig Allen said Sunday that American companies are pleased with the results of participation in the CIIE and want to grow with the expo, Xinhua reported.

Allen noted that China is a major contributor to global growth over the past decade, saying that Chinese consumers have a need for quality products and services, and American companies want to join the competition in that market.

He also called on the two countries to engage in more communications.

"It is expected that if this warming trend can be sustained in the future, the economic and trade cooperation between China and the US will be gradually enhanced," Gao said.

Global Times