Learn mandarin - WTO: China outpaces US in exports

BIZCHINA / Top Biz News

WTO: China outpaces US in exports

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-13 19:08

GENEVA -- China surpassed the United States as the world's second-largest
exporter in the middle of last year, according to figures released
Thursday by the World Trade Organization, and the Asian country is
pulling further and further ahead.

Export growth from China boomed 27 percent last year, outpacing all other
major trading nations, the WTO (find more in WTO package)said in
releasing its first batch of global trade statistics for 2006.

While China finished behind Germany and the United States in total
exports for the full year, it overtook the United States in the last six
months of 2006 and will almost certainly finish above the US in the 2007
totals.

A worker rides a bicycle past containers at a port in Shanghai December
13, 2006. A World Trade Organization report on Thursday, April 12, 2007
says China surpassed the United States as the world's second-largest
exporter in the middle of last year. [Reuters]

At current growth rates, China is projected to overtake Germany as the
world's biggest exporter in 2008.

"China's merchandise trade expansion remained outstandingly strong," the
WTO said in its 21-page report. "Office and telecom equipment continued
to be the mainstay of Chinese export growth, but significant gains in
world market shares in 2006 could be observed in 'traditional' exports
such as clothing and 'new' products such as iron and steel."

The WTO report comes at a time of rising tension between China and the
United States and some of the findings will surely fuel debate that
Beijing's trade policies are preventing American goods from entering its
vast market. US critics accuse the Chinese economy of benefiting from an
undervalued currency, government subsidies, unfair barriers to foreign
competition and widespread piracy.

The United States filed two new complaints against China at the WTO on
Tuesday over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American
movies, music and books.

The new cases are the latest move against China by the Bush
administration, which is trying to deal with America's rising political
anger over its soaring trade deficit that set a record for the fifth
consecutive year in 2006 at US$765.3 billion. The US imbalance with China
grew to US$232.5 billion, the highest ever with a single country.

The WTO report said China's imports rose 20 percent last year to US$792
billion - a surge that was "faster than global trade but continued to lag
behind export growth."

The commerce body partly attributed the weaker import figures to lower
oil prices, but did not cite any other factors. The WTO tends to avoid
issues tied to energy or currency valuation.

1 2 

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin