Despite President-elect Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric about building a trade wall, officials from Michigan, one of the key battleground states in the election, have come to China seeking to attract more Chinese investors.

As the recently concluded US presidential election produced a surprise result, local officials are left to wait and see who will be part of the new administration, officials said on Friday. Once Trump is in office, "my encouragement to him will be to continue to have positive relationships and strong relationships with China," Rick Snyder, Republican governor of the state of Michigan, told a press briefing held in Beijing on Friday.

Snyder never endorsed the President-elect and called some of his past remarks "revolting and disgusting," US news site cbslocal.com reported in November.

Snyder, who has made six trips to the country during the past six years, noted that he wanted to time this year's visit to fall after the election because no one knew who was likely to triumph on election night. While seeing great value in the relationships built between Michigan and China, Snyder invited Detroit Democratic mayor Mike Duggan to join him for the first time, with the aim of showing their Chinese counterparts that the division between the two major parties in the US could be overcome, working together to improve the business and investment environment.

The total volume of exports from Michigan to China reached $3.2 billion in 2015, with over 30 percent coming from transportation equipment, data from the US Department of Commerce showed. Meanwhile, imports from China to Michigan totaled $9.2 billion, including transportation equipment, computers and electronics, and machinery, the official data noted.

From time to time people have voiced concerns about the benefits of trade, and following this election, "we've seen they come up more often," the governor said, noting that the best thing to do is to show the people the positive effects that trade can have on their everyday lives.

"Both countries benefit by having people in both countries have good well-paying jobs," Snyder said.

Some Chinese companies have been showing interest in investing in Michigan in recent years, especially those in the automotive, engineering, and machinery sectors. For instance, Nexteer Automotive, a subsidiary of China's State-owned aerospace and defense company Aviation Industry Corp, has invested $300 million in Michigan since 2010, creating 1,000 local jobs. These successful examples should be emphasized, Snyder said.

The middle class in Detroit and across the US has lost many manufacturing jobs, "a trade war with China or another country will cost the middle class far more jobs," Duggan said, noting that he hopes Trump can strike a middle ground by keeping jobs in America without creating divisions with other countries.

"As a businessperson himself, his products are produced in other countries," Duggan told the Global Times on Friday.

As there are many manufacturing workers in Detroit making products for export, "if other countries stop buying from us, it means there are layoffs in America," he said, noting that one of the biggest issues is there are almost no small cars made in America, as the profits on small cars are low, seeing these jobs move offshore to countries with lower wages such as Mexico.