Beijing, Dec 27 (IANS) The US has surpassed the European Union in the first 11 months of 2012 to become the largest buyer of Chinese products, the commerce ministry said.
The value of US trade with China increased by 8.2 percent year-on-year to reach $438.62 billion, it said.
China’s exports to the US increased by 8.2 percent to $319.4 billion, and its imports from the US went up by 8.1 percent to $119.2 billion, the China Daily reported Thursday.
China’s trade surplus with the US has also increased in the year, going from $148.3 billion in the first nine months to $200.3 billion in the first 11 months.
The EU, for its part, saw its trade with China decline.
In the first 11 months of the year, its trade with China decreased by 4.1 percent year-on-year, and its imports from China dropped to $302.3 billion.
Japan’s trade with China also dropped by 2.9 percent year-on-year during the period.
Even so, China’s total foreign trade was up in the first 11 months of the year, increasing by 5.8 percent to $3.5 trillion, although that rate of increase was far below the goal of 10 percent set at the beginning of the year.
In the first 11 months of 2012, US’ actual investment in China increased by 11.6 percent from a year earlier to hit $2.4 billion, the newspaper added.
