Sino-US trade surges despite disputes

Trade between China and the United States surged nearly 40 percent year-on-year in the first two months despite of various disputes. Chinese expert predicted a rapid growth in the rest of the year.

In the January-February period, China imported 7.2 billion US dollars worth of US goods, ranging from machinery and electronic facilities, chemical to agricultural products.

China's exports amounted to 14.6 billion US dollars, involving machinery and electronic products, furniture, toys, garment, shoes and basic metals, according to statistics from Chinese Customs.

The structure of imports and exports indicated the mutual benefits between the trade of the two countries: China, with a soaring economy, needs US advanced technology and products, while for US consumers, products made in China as TV sets and shoes were cheap and of good quality.

However, the low cost, a cutting-edge advantage of Chinese products based on relatively cheap labor price, was under fire in some major news media in the United States.

Besides, new problems are emerging such as the China's taxes on chips, which was alleged by the United States as discrimination on foreign manufactures.

The US side has asked for consultation with China on that issue under the World Trade Organization mechanism in March. The European Union and Japan also asked to join the consultation at the end of the month.

The Asian edition of Business Weekly published last week said the chip taxes, technology standards, intellectual property right, working condition and the exchange rate of Chinese currency, RMB, will be major topics of the upcoming conference of Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) in Washington.

The meeting will be co-chaired by Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi and US Secretary of the Department of Commerce Donald Louis Evans and Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick.

"We hope that those issues could be solved or at least calmed during the high-level exchanges," said Wang Hongxia, deputy director of the American and Oceanian Studies of the Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, the think-tank of Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

"The problems were new, but not a threat to the Sino-US trade," Wang said. The chip tax issue is expected to be settled during the 60-day consultation period and further conflict might be avoided, she added.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney's three-day visit to China starting from Wednesday will help to cool those disputes, Wang said.

"Anyway, the Sino-US trade will get through those difficulties and continuously record high growth, which is good for both China and the United States," Wang said.