China won’t give up on ‘win-win’ US trade despite ‘unsustainable’ tariffs

China is no longer the top source of US imports, while recent tariff increases on a range of Chinese goods have added to trade tensions

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The US remains the biggest export market for Chinese electronics giant TCL, according to founder and chairman Li Dongsheng. Photo: Bloomberg

Ji Siqiin Dalian, Liaoning province

Published: 5:06pm, 26 Jun 2024Updated: 3:25pm, 30 Sep 2024

Despite rising economic tensions and trade barriers, China would never give up tapping the US market for exports, said a top Chinese official on international trade.

“We are still willing to deepen cooperation with the United States in trade and investment, because everyone knows that the essence of Sino-US trade is win-win cooperation,” said Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade – a semi-official trade group.

“Our biggest export market is in no doubt the US,” Ren added during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions – also known as Summer Davos – on Tuesday in Dalian.

In 2023, China was dethroned as the top source of US imports for the first time in 17 years after being outpaced by Mexico in terms of total value of goods shipped amid Washington’s tariff and supply-chain diversification efforts.

“Traditional markets are still very important to us, and we work hard to develop emerging markets, so both are important,” added Ren, who is also a former commerce vice-minister.

Emerging markets and developing countries account for 56.7 per cent of China’s trade volume, exceeding traditional partners like the US and Europe, he said.