An aerial photo taken on November 3, 2020 shows the container dock of Yangshan Port in Shanghai, East China. Photo: Xinhua

China and the US need to create a stable and predictable economic and trade environment, to enhance the confidence of enterprises in both countries, Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The remarks were made in response to media questions about how China's Ministry of Commerce views the future development of China-US economic and trade relations.

China-US economic and trade relations have been affected not only by the pandemic in the past two years, but also by some unilateral protectionist measures adopted by the US. Despite this, the trade volume between the two has reached a record high, Wang said.

In 2022, bilateral trade reached more than $750 billion, which fully demonstrates the strong complementarity and resilience of the economic and trade relations between China and the US.

In the past three years, the proportion of agricultural products exported by the US to China has continued to increase, reaching nearly one-fifth of its total exports last year. China has become the largest export market for American agricultural products. Every year, the US exports $15 billion in intellectual property services to China. It can be seen from this that the economic and trade relations between the two countries are highly complementary and resilient, Wang noted.

Nevertheless, Wang cautioned that this potential for complementarity and resilience has not been fully realized.

Last year, the growth rate of China's exports to the world was 6 percentage points higher than the growth rate of exports to the US, while the growth rate of US exports to the world was 16 percentage points higher than the growth rate of US exports to China. The trade volume between China and the US has increased, setting a record, but the growth rate is not fast, Wang explained.

According to Wang, one of the reasons for this is that the US has adopted some restrictive measures on China-US trade, which has restricted the development of bilateral economic and trade relations, damaged the comparative advantages of the US, harmed the competitiveness of its own products, and dampened the confidence and willingness of Chinese and US firms to strengthen cooperation.

For many Chinese companies, they may question whether the US is a reliable partner and product supplier, the official said, adding that these measures taken by the US not only harm the interests of the US itself, but also violate WTO rules. China has also filed a lawsuit against the US to the WTO.

"Regarding the future, the bilateral economic and trade relations between China and the US have great potential and are highly complementary. We should give full play to the mutually beneficial and win-win nature of bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Wang said.

According to a report by the US-China Business Council, US exports to China have created 1 million American jobs. China's exports to the US have reduced US inflation, increased the welfare of US consumers, and enhanced the competitiveness of US companies.

China is willing to work with the US to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, abide by WTO rules, market economy rules, and free trade principles, make candid consultations, and make further communication and coordination to reduce restrictions on bilateral trade and investment, said the minister.

"We need to create a stable and predictable China-US economic and trade environment, and enhance the confidence of enterprises of the two countries. It is believed that China-US economic and trade cooperation will set new records in the future," Wang said.

The US is the host of the series of APEC meetings this year, Wang said, noting that China and the US can take this opportunity to conduct dialogue through bilateral, regional and multilateral channels to promote the resolution of their respective concerns in the economic and trade field.

Global Times