(File photo)

Chinese enterprises made USD 46.6 billion of direct investment in the U.S. by the end of 2015, marking the U.S. the fourth largest receiver of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI), according to statistics released by China's Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.

U.S. investment projects in China totaled 66,000 by the end of 2015, according to statistics that show how China-U.S. bilateral investment is experiencing an expanding trend. The U.S. is the sixth largest source of China's foreign capital.

According to data released by China, bilateral trade volumes between the two countries reached USD 558.39 billion, increasing 0.6 per cent year-on-year. The U.S. is China’s second largest trading partner, its largest export market and the fourth largest source of imports to China.

Data released by the U.S. indicate that China-U.S. bilateral goods trade volume reached USD 569.17 billion from January to November 2015, experiencing a year-on-year increase of 2.4 per cent and accounting for 16.2 per cent of total U.S. goods trade volume, up 1.2 percentage points on the same period in 2014. China has exceeded Canada to become the largest trading partner of the U.S. for the first time.

China's enterprises created nearly 80,000 jobs in America by investment in the country by the end of 2014, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce in September 2015.

China's enterprises have been enlarging their presence in the U.S. China's Haier, a manufacturer of household goods, bought GE's appliance unit for USD 5.4 billion in January 2016. China’s Dalian Wanda bought Legendary Entertainment for USD 3.5 billion in the same month.