Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng answers questions during a press conference for the third session of China's 12th National People's Congress in Beijing, March 2015. (Photo : www.news.xinhuanet.com)
The volume of annual bilateral trade between China and the United States is expected to double by 2024, according to Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, as reported by China Daily.
In a column headlined "China-U.S. trade soars, benefitting both nations," published in USA Today on Monday, Sept. 21, Gao said that "by 2024, the volume of bilateral trade is likely to surpass $1 trillion."
Gao said in the article that in 36 years since China and the U.S. established diplomatic ties, Sino-U.S. commercial cooperation has broadened with huge potential for growth.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade in goods reached $555.1 billion in 2014, up 227-fold since the forging of diplomatic relations and the integration of China's economy with the world economy.
Experts believe that both nations will benefit and continue to grow with the Sino-U.S. trade as it is expected to double in the next decade.
"China and the U.S. share extensive common interests and mutual demands, with economic globalization and regional economic integration rapidly developing," Chen Fengying, an expert on the world economy at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.
"Economic and trade cooperation not only acts like a stabilizer in terms of Sino-U.S. bilateral relations, but also directly affects the global economic recovery process," Chen added.
Gao added that several cases would attest to the mutual benefits that both countries gain from the trade, such as the rapidly rising number of Chinese enterprises that have invested in the U.S. in recent years.
"Over the last four decades, for example, Wanxiang Group has grown from a small workshop for agricultural machinery into a big business with a global presence. Since its entry into the U.S. market, Wanxiang has successively acquired more than 20 companies and saved over 10 manufacturing factories that had been on the verge of bankruptcy," the minister wrote.
"Altogether, it hired 12,500 people in the U.S., and one out of every three cars produced in North America today uses parts and components that were made by Wanxiang America Inc."
The minister also mentioned in his column that cooperation and competition between companies from China and the U.S. have become extensive since diplomatic relations were forged in 1979.
"For more than 30 years, our bilateral trade and investment has brought real benefits to our peoples and contributed to great development in both countries," Gao wrote. "As President Xi Jinping visits the United States this week, history tells us that Sino-U.S. economic cooperation is win-win, and we look forward to a bright future," he added.
