GE to sign deals worth billions of dollars with Chinese firms

John Rice, vice-chairman of General Electric Co. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

General Electric Co, the US-based leading digital industrial company, will sign deals totaling billions of dollars with Chinese partners today and tomorrow, concentrating on power and aviation sectors, its senior executive said on Wednesday.

GE Vice-Chairman John Rice, who is accompanying US President Donald Trump on his visit to China, said the projects in the pipeline, that are "in the billions (dollar)", will "include the combination of content from China with content from the United States".

"So we will facilitate an increase flow of export from the US to China," he told China Daily in an interview.

Trump started his China tour on Wednesday, with dozens of corporate big-wigs reportedly joining the president.

Asked about his take on the bilateral ties, Rice said it is of great importance for the world's two largest countries" to coexist in a constructive and complementary way".

Noting the balance of trade as one of the challenges facing US and China, Rice said there are "understandable reasons" for the trade imbalance.

"It's certainly our hope that the frictions that this creates can be resolved in a constructive way. I don't think either country is of advantage if there's a trade war," he said.

Questions can be resolved in a productive and constructive way, Rice said, adding that companies like GE can be a part of that solution.