BEIJING - China's foreign trade is projected to grow between 20 and 25 percent this year, according to a report released by the China Institute for WTO Studies on Monday.

The report predicts that imports will outpace exports, which will further benefit the balance of trade.

With the global economic recovery losing momentum and uncertainties remaining, China's foreign trade will post a lower growth rate than last year, the report says.

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China's imports and exports totaled $2.97 trillion in 2010, up 34.7 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

China's exports will post less than 30 percent growth year-on-year as Chinese export-oriented enterprises are pressed by weak external demand, increasing trade frictions, appreciation of the renminbi, the Chinese currency, and rising labor costs, said Zhang Hanlin, head of the institute based in the University of International Business and Economics.

"Trade remedy investigations against China are decreasing, but trade friction has become even more diversified and complicated, involving not only the manufacturing industry but also strategic resources," Zhang said.

The report says that in 2011 the US and the European Union may launch more anti-subsidy trade investigations of China's strategic new industries, such as wind power.