Sino-US trade volume slips but bright future seen for economic ties

China will continue to develop mutually beneficial and complementary trade relations with the United States regardless of US change of administration, said Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang on Friday.

It is too early to predict whether bilateral trade will decrease in the next few years, though Sino-US trade volume fell slightly this year, he said at a news conference.

In the first 11 months of this year, total Sino-US trade declined by 1.7 percent year-on-year to 3.08 trillion yuan ($442 billion), according to the General Administration of Customs.

China's exports to the US also declined, by 6.6 percent in dollar terms, between January and November.

But the yuan-denominated volume remained roughly unchanged, said Shen.

He said that the two economies are complementary in many ways, such as natural resources, human resources, market, capital and technology.

Bilateral investment increased between January and November.

US investment in China rose by 15.1 percent to $2.21 billion, while China's nonfinancial direct investment in the US grew by 159 percent year-on-year to $18.63 billion.

"China and the US are mutually dependent. Economic and trade cooperation will benefit both, while confrontation only hurts both," he added.

Earlier this week, Trump appointed Peter Navarro, reportedly a hard-liner on trade with China, as head of the newly formed White House National Trade Council, a choice that aroused public concerns.

Experts say the two countries' economic and trade ties will see a bright future despite short-term challenges.

Lin Guijun, vice-chancellor of the University of International Business and Economics, said: "China and the United States should pursue a mutually beneficial solution to disputes through dialogue. It will produce a win-win situation for economic and trade cooperation."

Zhou Mi, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said bilateral economic and trade ties will remain close.

Zhou predicted that trade volume will increase early next year, spurred by a more robust US economic recovery.

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