China's government defended itself today as a supporter of free trade after US President-elect Donald Trump's pick for commerce secretary criticised its tactics.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying pointed to President Xi Jinping's appeal to avoid protectionism in a speech this week at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
"Who is sincerely pushing ahead with liberalization of trade and investment and who is exercising trade protectionism should be clear for all to see," Hua said at a news briefing.
Trump, who takes office Friday, promised during his campaign to respond to what he called unfair Beijing trade tactics by raising tariffs on Chinese goods and possibly imposing other penalties.
His nominee for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, criticised China yesterday for excess steel and aluminum production and said he would look closely at potential anti-dumping cases.
"It's a little weird that we have very low tariffs and China has very high tariffs," Ross said.
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The Chinese Commerce Ministry also reminded Trump about lucrative trade ties between the two countries becoming a mainstay of the relationship.
Sino-US trade volume grew from USD 2.5 billion in 1979 to about USD 519.6 billion in 2016, surging by 211 times within 38 years, the Ministry said.
With over USD 400 billion exports to US, China however has a lion's share in the bilateral trade.
Bilateral service trade volume totalled over USD 100 billion while mutual investment exceeded USD 170 billion by the end of 2016, the ministry said.
China and the United States share integrated interests with bilateral trade and investment expanding into more fields, the Ministry's spokesperson Sun Jiwen said.
A report from the US-China Business Council (USCBC) showed that bilateral trade and investment in 2015 created about 2.6 million jobs for Americans and contributed to about 1.2 percent of US GDP that year, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The USCBC expects US exports to China to reach USD 520 billion in volume by 2050, while China's exports to the US will help lower local prices by 1 to 1.5 percentage points.
Sino-US trade and investment ties, which are mutually beneficial, are the anchor and propeller of bilateral relations, and China is willing to work with the new US leadership to continue promoting stable bilateral trade and investment to benefit the two country's people, Sun said.
