The bilateral trade between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America has been developing rapidly since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1979. In China's statistics, the bilateral trade volume in 1979 was 2.45 billion dollars only. In 1995, the volume reached 40.83 billion dollars, more than 16 nines of tile figure 16 years ago. The United States is now the third trade partner of China. China and The United States are two important nations in the world.
China is the biggest developing country while the United States is the biggest developed country.
The two economies are very complementary to each other. The United States has a huge market, strong purchasing power and diversified consumption structure and consumer mix. Chinese products, including consumer goods such as textiles, garments, footwear, toys, household electric appliances and other light industrial products and tools and general machinery, are well received here for their quality and reasonable price. In the meantime, China has a great growing market for advanced technologies, equipment and other productive materials and certain commodities, in which the American aircraft, sophisticated machinery, electronics, chemicals, grain, timber and fertilizer are taking a remarkable share. The complement and size of the Sino-US markets leave the bilateral trade with great potential to be tapped, which could be greater with China's economic growth.