US, China sign USD 250 billion trade deals during Trump’s visit

Photo: REUTERS

The deals were signed at a ceremony attended by Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. It included the purchase of US-made chip sets, jetliners and soybeans.

Chinese and US companies signed trade and investment deals worth more than USD 250 billion, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Facts have shown that China and the United States have huge potential in reciprocal economic and trade cooperation, Xi said.

Significantly, China also managed to push its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was earlier criticised by the US.

China’s Silk Road Fund, a unit under the People’s Bank of China to promote the Belt and Road international trade initiative, will set up a joint fund with the US, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

China had set up a USD 40 billion Silk Road fund to assist the BRI projects.

Among a long list of agreements ranging from shale gas to car parts, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, the state energy group, signed a USD 43 billion deal to jointly explore natural gas with the US in Alaska, the Post report said.

China’s sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, will offer financial support. Bank of China, a Chinese state-owned bank, will help with finance, too.

Chinese phone makers, Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo will sign deals to buy products from Qualcomm, the US telecom mobile chip-maker.

The US tech firm Broadcom made a USD 105 billion takeover bid for Qualcomm earlier this month.

China Investment Corp is to set up a joint fund with Goldman Sachs. Other deals include the Chinese purchase of planes from Boeing and the imports of Tesla cars into China, the report said.

Ahead of his visit, Trump had said the massive trade deficit in bilateral trade is a shame, and has been pressuring China to open Chinese markets more for US products and firms.

The US goods and services trade with China totalled to an estimated USD 648.2 billion in 2016 in which China had a lion’s share with about USD 478.9 billion exports. The US exports to China stood at USD 169.3 billion, according to US trade figures.

China’s customs administration released figures showed a trade surplus of USD 26.6 billion with the US in October alone.