General

On February 7, the data released by the United States Department of Commerce showed that the total trade volume between China and the United States reached 690.6 billion dollars in 2022, exceeding the 661.5 billion dollars in 2018, a record high.

According to the statistics of the United States Department of Commerce, the export of goods from the United States to China will increase by US $2.4 billion to US $153.8 billion in 2022; The import volume increased by 31.8 billion US dollars to 536.8 billion US dollars.

This set of data is very important and very illustrative.

Because in recent years, Sino-US trade relations have continued to tense. During Trump's period, the US government imposed additional tariffs on Chinese goods, leading to a Sino-US trade war; Then we encountered epidemic situation; After Biden came to power, the United States introduced various restrictive policies on China in terms of economy, technology and trade.

In this case, Sino-US trade volume has reached a record high. What does that mean? It shows that the economic exchanges between China and the United States are close and the degree of economic interdependence is very deep.

Some people in the US business circle take China and Russia for example. If the US government orders to remove all Russian goods from the shelves, American consumers may not feel anything; But if all Chinese goods are ordered off the shelves, American consumers will find nothing to buy.

At present, some political figures in the United States advocate containment of China and "decoupling" from China, but the American business and economic circles generally believe that the Chinese and American economies are interdependent, complementary and mutually beneficial, and the American economy, enterprises and consumers are the beneficiaries of this relationship, so they all oppose the argument of "decoupling" between China and the United States.

After the data came out, CNN commented that "the data shows that decoupling from China and reducing dependence on China are clearly policy discussions in Washington, rather than solid trade facts".

The "Politician" website quoted Ed Gracer, former chief economist of the Office of the United States Trade Representative, as saying that although the United States' policy of imposing tariffs on China has an impact on bilateral trade flows, the behavior of consumers and businesses is more influential than political decisions.

So although this data reflects the Sino-US trade situation last year, in view of many problems in the current Sino-US relations, the record high data should also enlighten policy makers in Washington.