China signs trade deals worth $10.6 billion with US

Chinese firms have signed 32 trade and investment deals worth $10.6 billion with their US counterparts that will support the US economy, strengthen trade ties and create jobs both in the US and China.

The trade and investment deals were signed in Washington yesterday at a forum hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products.
 

The US companies that would benefit from the Chinese deals are Ford Motors, IBM, Dell, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, EMC, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Amway.

Bloomberg eported Cisco bagged orders worth an estimated $300 million from China Mobile, China Telecom and China Construction Bank.

US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke had hosted a meeting for China's minister of commerce Chen Deming at the commerce department yesterday.

This was the first meeting between Chen and Locke,  the first Chinese American to serve as commerce secretary. During his tenure as the as the governor of Washington state, Locke also holds the distinction of being the first Chinese American governor in US history.

Locke and Chen reaffirmed the commitment of both governments to continuing to build a positive and cooperative relationship that strengthens trade and creates jobs in the US and China.

The two leaders underscored the importance of achieving concrete results at the next meeting of the Joint Commission on commerce and trade and also discussed other issues, such as increasing US exports to China and the need to avoid protectionism.

Beijing has traditionally restricted foreign investment in certain sectors like the chemical, auto, railways, information technology and postal service.

In his speech at the signing ceremony, Deming, while not directly addressing his country's protectionist policies, said "History tells us that openness and cooperation is all the more important amidst a crisis and trade protectionism will not restore growth," but rather aggravate the recession.

He also said that China "does not pursue an enormous trade surplus" with the US and encourages the Chinese business community to buy goods made in the US as well as invest in the US.

According to the Chinese customs bureau, China's exports to the US declined 17.1 per cent last month to $90.29 billion from a year earlier while imports dropped 25.1 per cent, leaving a trade surplus of $18.56 billion.