China to sign import deals up to $12 billion with US

Beijing: China is expected to attempt to reduce its growing trade surplus by signing import deals with the US next month worth round $12 billion.

According to an unattributed report in the China Daily, the deals will be signed during a high-profile bilateral strategic economic dialogue in the US in May.

The report said that a proposed procurement deal would include a wide range of American products ranging from soybean and cotton manufacturing machinery to electronic goods.

According to commentators, the deals are part of Chinese efforts to cut the country''s huge trade surplus with the US, which reached $230 billion in 2006.

During President Hu Jintao''s visit to the US in April 2006, Chinese enterprises signed deals estimated at $16 billion on products ranging from soybean to aircraft, the Chinese daily said.

It also added that next month''s strategic economic dialogue, whioch would be co-chaired by Chinese vice premier Wu Yi and US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, is expected to be frosty with the US formally having filed WTO complaints against China last week.

China reacted by warning that the US move to take China to the WTO on copyright piracy and market access barriers would have "negative impact" on overall trade relations between the two.