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BEIJING, Mar 6 (CEIS): The United States' trade deficits with China do not reflect the whole picture of the two country's trade ties, China's Ministry of Commerce said.
Chong Quan, a spokesperson of the ministry, said the balance of the two country's economic and trade benefits should be viewed from not only trade and investment, but also trade of goods and services.
In an interview with Xinhua over the report by the Office of US Trade Representatives (USTR), Chong said fast development of Sino-US trade ties facilitate the sustained economic growth of the two countries and bring about enormous mutual benefits. US consumers benefit hugely from cheap and quality goods made in China.
It is estimated that the US consumer price index would have gone up by 2 per cent without consumer goods from China, said the spokesperson.
Chong said China is the fastest growing export market of the United States, and one of the major sources of profits for overseas US companies.
"It is therefore of great importance to maintain stable Sino-US trade ties. China has noticed that the report released by the USTR recognises this point," he added.
He quoted a survey conducted in 2004 by the China US Chamber of Commerce as saying that 62 per cent of US firms in China provide goods and services. Annual sales of their goods and services in China exceeded 75 billion US dollars and the US firms in China export a similar amount of goods to markets outside China.
"The benefits coming from investment, however, have not been reflected in trade statistics," said the spokesperson.
Commenting on the USTR's figure of US trade deficits with China of 202 billion US dollars in 2005, Chong said there is a great disparity between US and Chinese statistics.
The trade deficit figures released by the United States are exaggerated-they should be 114.17 billion US dollars according to Chinese statistics, he said.
As the USTR acknowledges in the report, US trade with other Asian trade partners narrowed while the US trade deficits with China grew-the share of US trade deficits with the Asia-Pacific region of overall US trade deficits dropped to 43 per cent in 2005 from 57 per cent in 1999, said Chong.
The spokesperson said the Chinese government attaches great importance to Sino-US economic and trade relations and is willing to strive to narrow the bilateral trade deficits.
To illustrate his point, Chong said China placed an order for 70 Boeing passenger planes last year and China's imports of soybeans from the US account for one third of the total US soybean exports.
Chong called for both sides to improve mutual trust and cooperation to create a better environment to stabilise and promote bilateral economic and trade relations.
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