The development of Sino-US trade is a mutually beneficial arrangement, because the world's two largest economies are highly complementary with their trade volume growing to $484.7 billion in 2012.

Sino-US trade relations have to be developed to tap potential bilateral economic opportunities and enable more reasonable allocation of resources for the two countries. Quality and inexpensive products exported by China have benefited American consumers and helped create the necessary conditions for the United States' transformation into a service-oriented economy. Conversely, China has benefited immensely from the growing demand for its products from American consumers.

Of course, the burgeoning trade between the two economic giants has led to some imbalance and frictions. But they are the natural offshoots of increasing Sino-US trade. According to official US figures, its trade deficit with China has increased to $315 billion. This enormous trade deficit, however, can be attributed to a variety of factors.

For example, the products that US-funded enterprises and other overseas-funded enterprises in China export to the American market replace part of their original trade with the US. The US' trade deficit with China has been largely exaggerated by Washington partly because of its policies toward Beijing and the faulty statistical methods it follows. The US still continues to impose a ban on the export of high-tech products to China, ignoring the complementarity of the two economies. This creates hurdles for establishing a truly win-win trade relationship between the two sides by creating an artificial trade imbalance.

Besides, the US is prone to dealing with trade frictions unilaterally. It has launched dozens of investigations against Chinese enterprises for what it calls dumping and flouting of subsidy norms. In recent years, the US has conducted Section 337 investigations against Chinese products. Section 337 investigations launched by the US International Trade Commission often involve claims regarding intellectual property rights, including allegations of patent and trademark infringements by imported goods, and threat to US national security.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce says that by April 2012, Washington had taken "remedial measures" against 114 categories of Chinese products. And the ministry's repeated calls to the US to abide by its promise of maintaining a free and open international trade environment and vow to eschew trade protectionism have borne little fruit.

The US refuses to abandon the practice of discriminating against Chinese enterprises. In fact, in October 2012 the US House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee asked American companies to stop doing business with Huawei and ZTE, alleging that the two Chinese companies posed a threat to US national security.

Such actions, combined with the refusal to grant China market economy status, makes clear the US' preference to deal with trade frictions unilaterally. They also jeopardize the healthy development of Sino-US trade.

The other ploy used by the US to contain China's rise in the economic field is the yuan's exchange rate. It continues to claim that the yuan is undervalued, ignoring the rapid appreciation of the Chinese currency in the past almost eight years. Since China started the exchange rate reform in 2005, the yuan has appreciated by about 25 percent, largely reflecting the country's labor productivity level and the difference in salary levels between China and the US.

China's integration into the world economy is a progressive process. To reform the yuan's exchange rate according to China's actual needs will not only safeguard the country's sovereignty, but also be conducive to the healthy development of the global economy.

Sino-US economic and trade relations, especially the trade imbalance and direct Chinese investment in the US, has always been a sensitive issue for American politicians. It has been a hot campaign topic both in the US presidential election as well as the election to Congress. In fact, there has not been a single election in the US in recent years during which Sino-US trade relations have not figured prominently. The reason for that is simple: Many American politicians still suffer from Cold War mentality and expect to make political capital out of their rhetoric against China.

This means China's efforts to develop economic and trade relations with the US are destined to encounter opposition from some US politicians for some time to come.

The author is a research scholar in international trade at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily USA 06/05/2013 page12)