China a crucial export market for US goods

McDonald's sells 1,600 burgers a minute in nation, while a GM vehicle is purchased every 8 seconds

DES MOINES, IOWA - General Motors sold a vehicle in China every eight seconds last year. The auto giant rolled out 3.87 million models in the country, while rival Ford sold 1.27 million vehicles at a rate of one every 25 seconds.

And if those numbers were not eye watering enough, fast food giant McDonald's sold 1,600 burgers every minute from more than 2,200 stores in China.

Statistics like these illustrate economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States.

Hong Lei, China's consul-general to Chicago, hammered this point home by going through figures on bilateral trade in a keynote speech at the US-China Think Tank Symposium luncheon held in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month.

"Data show China-US trade volume has grown from $2.5 billion in 1979 to $524.3 billion last year, a jump of 209 times," said Hong.

China is the largest export market for the US outside North America, and is also one of the fastest growing.

In the past 10 years, the average annual growth rate of US exports to China hit 11 percent, higher than not only the 4 percent of average growth rate of US total exports during the same period, but also the 6.6 percent average growth rate of China's exports to the US in this period, said the Chinese diplomat.

Since China's accession to the World Trade Organization, US exports to China in 2016 were up by 500 percent from 2001, while US global exports during the same period only grew by 90 percent.

China has become an important overseas market for many US products, especially bulk agricultural produce and high-end finished products.

"In 2016, the US exported 440 aircraft to China worth $12.5 billion," Hong said.

The US also exported 33.66 million metric tons of soybeans worth $13.8 billion, 255,000 automobiles worth $12.1 billion and 260,000 tons of cotton worth of $500 million.

China is the largest export market for US aircraft and soybeans, and the second largest for US automobiles, integrated circuits and cotton.

"Among US exports, 62 percent of soybeans, 17 percent of automobiles, 15 percent of integrated circuits, 14 percent of cotton and some 25 percent of Boeing aircraft are sold to China," Hong said.

From 2006 to 2016, service exports of the United States to China expanded from $14.4 billion to $86.9 billion, a sixfold rise, according to Hong.

Last year, the US trade surplus with China in services reached $55.7 billion, 40 times the amount of 2006.

As for tourism, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Chinese tourists spent $13,000 per person in the US in 2016. This was far more than tourists from other countries.

Last year, Chinese tourists spent a total of $35.22 billion in the US, creating about $97 million of revenue per day.

The US is also a major destination for Chinese students studying abroad.

According to a report published by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2016, there were 353,000 Chinese students studying in the US.

"This accounted for 34 percent of the total number of international students in the country," said Hong.

Estimates from the Ministry of Commerce showed that Chinese students in the US spent about $45,000 per person last year, contributing around $15.9 billion of revenue.

In 2016, the US exported 51 movies to China, grossing revenues of $16 billion. That was four times higher than for all the other countries where films were exported.

US-invested enterprises in China have maintained good performance and gained higher profits. "Sales revenue in 2015 totaled $517 billion, and profit reached $36.2 billion," said Hong.

Last year, the total revenue of US-funded banks, insurance and security companies here was $48 billion and the total revenue of US-funded accounting firms, law firms and consulting firms exceeded $19 billion.

At the same time, Chinese investment in the US is growing rapidly. According to a report published by the National Committee on United States-China Relations and Rhodium Group, Chinese enterprises invested $45.6 billion in the US last year, a 200 percent increase from the previous record set in 2015.

By the end of 2016, the accumulative total of Chinese foreign direct investment in the US reached around $109 billion, covering sectors such as services, manufacturing, real estate, hospitality, information and communication technology, entertainment and financial services.

"Nearly 98 percent (425 of 435) of congressional districts in 46 states hosted Chinese-owned establishments," Hong said. "The total number of Americans employed by Chinese-owned companies exceeded 141,000, and most of them work in the manufacturing sector."

Xinhua - China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/23/2017 page27)