General

What is the development trend of China's service trade in the first four months of this year? What are the recent achievements of Sino US trade communication and the trend of Sino US trade relations? The Ministry of Commerce recently held a regular press conference to respond to recent economic and trade hotspots.

The total import and export of services in China increased by 9.1% year-on-year in the first four months

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, Shu Jueting, introduced at the press conference that from January to April this year, China's service trade maintained an overall growth trend. The total import and export volume of services reached 2081.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.1%. Among them, exports amounted to 887.13 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.9%; Import of 1194.52 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%; The service trade deficit is 307.39 billion yuan.

The main characteristic is the increase in the proportion of knowledge intensive service trade. From January to April, the import and export of knowledge intensive services reached 905.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, accounting for 43.5% of the total import and export of services, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Among them, the export of knowledge intensive services reached 538.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18%; The fastest-growing area is insurance services, with a growth rate of 260.5%. The import of knowledge intensive services reached 367.31 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%; The fastest growing areas are personal culture and entertainment services, as well as other commercial services, with year-on-year growth of 54% and 26.2% respectively.

In addition, travel services have significantly resumed. From January to April, the import and export of travel services reached 444.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 63.4%. Among them, exports increased by 48.5% year-on-year, while imports increased by 64.5% year-on-year.

China and the United States agree to continue and strengthen exchanges in trade

Recently, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held talks with U.S. Minister of Commerce Remondo and U.S. Trade Representative Dai Qi respectively during his visit to the United States to attend the APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting. The achievements of economic and trade communication between China and the United States, as well as the economic and trade trends, have attracted much attention.

Shu Jueting introduced that both sides believe that the trade relationship between China and the United States is very important, and exchanged views on their respective economic and trade issues of concern, and explored possible areas of cooperation. Both sides agree to continue and strengthen exchanges. I hope that the United States, guided by the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, will work together with China to manage differences, jointly maintain and deepen practical economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States, benefit the two countries and their peoples, and promote world economic development.

Shu Jueting also introduced that Wang Wentao, together with representatives of Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and other member countries, attended the ministerial meeting between China and members of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) during his participation in the APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting in Detroit, the United States.

Wang Wentao said at the above meeting that since the establishment of the DEPA Working Group, China has carried out a lot of fruitful work together with members, and the overall progress is positive. At present, multiple regions in China are actively docking with DEPA and exploring cooperation in various fields with member countries. Some projects have made positive progress. China looks forward to strengthening practical cooperation with member countries while advancing accession negotiations, and promoting the early implementation of more projects.

The members of DEPA gave a positive evaluation of China's progress in joining the working group and expressed their willingness to work with China to comprehensively promote consultations at all levels, deepen cooperation related to the digital economy, explore more cooperation opportunities, and continuously achieve positive results.