(Corrects pronoun in paragraph 4)
By Joe Cash
BEIJING, March 23 (Reuters) - China has never
deliberately pursued a trade surplus with the United States, Shu
Jueting, a commerce ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday,
despite signs that China is continuing to reduce its reliance on
American exports.
Although American export data published on Feb. 7 shows that
exports to China increased by $2.4 billion on the year to hit a
"record high" of $153.8 billion in 2022, that is an "empty
statement", according to a new report from the Peterson
Institute for International Economics (PIIE). It identifies
inflation as primarily responsible for this figure.
In response to a question from Reuters on whether Chinese
officials should be worried that a widening surplus with the
United States could hinder China's efforts to lower U.S. tariffs
on Chinese goods, Shu said the United States should "lift trade
restrictions on Chinese enterprises as soon as possible".
She said this was needed to "create the conditions for
enterprises from both sides to expand trade cooperation and
reduce the trade deficit through dialogue".
The goods trade gap with China widened $29.4 billion to
$382.9 billion in 2022.
"Based on market demand, Chinese enterprises import a large
amount of agricultural products, automobiles, science and
technology, energy, and petrochemical products," Shu added,
asserting that "China's exports have reduced inflation in the
US."
Researchers at the PIIE have cautioned that "newly released
data from 2022 show that US exports are falling further and
further behind their foreign peers selling into the Chinese
market".
Trade tensions between the United States and China have been
simmering ever since the US-China Phase One Trade Deal expired
at the end of 2021.
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Writing by Liangping Gao; Editing by
Christian Schmollinger and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
