Frequent positive signals from multi-level interactions between China and the United States

  On April 4th, US Treasury Secretary Yellen began her second visit to China during her tenure, marking her second visit in nine months; On April 7th, Premier Li Qiang met with Yellen; From April 2nd to 5th, Wang Shouwen, the representative and deputy minister of international trade negotiations at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, visited the United States and co chaired the first vice ministerial level meeting of the China US Commerce Working Group with US Deputy Minister of Commerce Lago

Experts generally indicate that since the beginning of this year, communication between high-level officials from both sides has been more frequent and in-depth, which has sent a positive signal to the outside world that China and the United States are trying to increase more certainty and construction in their relationship.

Zhou Mi, a researcher at the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, stated in an interview with China Trade Daily that frequent high-level interactions between China and the United States are conducive to exchanging views on recent hot issues and stabilizing market expectations.

Zhao Minghao, Deputy Director and Professor of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, stated that both China and the United States share common interests and should strengthen dialogue and cooperation, whether in traditional fields such as economy and trade, agriculture, or emerging fields such as climate change and artificial intelligence, in promoting world economic recovery or addressing international and regional hot issues.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of this year, civil exchanges between China and the United States, especially in the business sector, have become increasingly frequent. Recently, Susanna Clark, President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce, Craig Allen, President of the National Committee on US China Trade, and key executives of several well-known American companies such as Ford Motor, Procter&Gamble, and Micron have all visited the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. During this year's China Development Forum, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade held multiple high-level political and business dialogues, and party and state leaders met with executives from multiple American companies such as ExxonMobil, HP, Pfizer, and Corning.

"As the largest trade and investment promotion agency in the country and the spokesperson for Chinese industrial and commercial enterprises, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has always regarded promoting deepening exchanges and cooperation between the business communities of China and the United States as an important mission." Yang Fan, spokesperson for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, stated at its regular press conference in March that the business communities of China and the United States are "voting with their feet" and should not decouple from cooperation. This is the will of the people and the hope of Sino US relations.

The positive interaction between China and the United States has effectively promoted economic and trade development, which is reflected in the trade volume between the two countries this year. In the first two months, the total trade value between China and the United States was 707.7 billion yuan, an increase of 3.7%, reversing the trend of declining trade volume between China and the United States in 2023. Last year, the trade volume between China and the United States was 664.451 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 11.6%.

"The categories of goods and services exported by the United States to China include agricultural products, semiconductors, oil and gas, and education, which have created more than one million jobs for the United States." Yang Shuiqing, assistant researcher at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China is currently the largest export market in four states of the United States and the top three export markets in 38 states. 284 pairs of friendly provinces, states, and cities have been established between China and the United States. At its peak, there are over 300 flights per week between China and the United States, with over 5 million people traveling annually.

Not only in trade, but also with the acceleration of high-level opening-up and the cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, the attractiveness of the Chinese market to American enterprises has become increasingly stronger. The American Chamber of Commerce in China stated that the profitability of most American companies in China has improved in 2023, with over 50% of surveyed companies considering China as the largest or top three investment destination.

On March 21, Apple's largest retail store in Chinese Mainland opened in Shanghai. "For Apple's supply chain, there is nothing more important than the Chinese market," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple will strengthen long-term partnerships with Chinese supply chain partners, closely cooperate in green manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing, and achieve a win-win situation.

Corning, a US manufacturing company, has been in China for over 40 years. Liu Zhifei, President and General Manager of Corning Greater China, stated that the company operates 21 production-oriented entities in China and has very close communication with local governments on a daily basis, resulting in smooth cooperation. They will follow the pace of China's cultivation and development of new quality productive forces, and advance the next development plan.

On March 7th, Starbucks officially opened its 1000th store in Cicheng Ancient Town, Jiangbei District, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. It is reported that Starbucks currently has over 7000 stores in mainland China, and plans to reach a total of 9000 stores in mainland China by 2025.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. What is the future trend of China US economic and trade relations? Zhou Mi stated that the market recovery momentum continues to strengthen this year, with China's production capacity and supply channels gradually recovering, and the US economic data performing well. Therefore, there is a strong expectation for the growth of supply and demand on both sides. We are now concerned that there may be some "black swan" events, including geopolitical conflicts or subjective market disruptions, which will cause trouble for the balance of supply and demand in China US trade.

"In the future, the space for cooperation between China and the United States will be very broad." Zhou Mi told reporters, firstly, to promote diversified cooperation in industrial and supply chains at the provincial and state levels; Secondly, pay attention to new trade demands such as digital economy and green economy, and create favorable conditions for the development of trade activities in these innovative fields; The third is to strengthen support for traditional trade cooperation. Currently, the global supply chain is accelerating its restructuring, and in the process, China and the United States still play important roles in supply-demand coordination for a long time. Therefore, too many barriers should not be added to traditional supply chains.

Zhang Yuanpeng, Director and Researcher of the Institute of World Economics at the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences, stated that in the future, China and the United States can continue to cooperate in mature technological products, especially in the field of consumer goods; Expand cooperation in energy conservation, emission reduction, and green development to jointly address global climate change; There is significant room for cooperation in areas such as financial regulation, network economy information security, and international taxation; There are also opportunities for cooperation in the field of rules and governance in high-tech fields.