Major US Exports to China: Scrap Copper and Metals, and Treasury Bonds

Published in Sohu
(China) on 7 July 2012
by Lei Li (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Emily Zhang. Edited by Becca Prashner.
At the China's Opening Up New Stage Forum held on July 6, JianDong Ju, director of the international economic research center at Tsinghua University, said that there are serious structural distortions in U.S. exports to China. There are few high-tech exports but a large amount of scrap metal exports, treasury bonds, agricultural products and aircrafts.

The total Sino-U.S. trade amount has been increasing at an annual rate of 20 percent for the past 20 years. According to an estimate made by China Customs that while China’s imports from the U.S. increase every year, the percentage of U.S. imports is declining — from 9.7 percent in 1989 to 7.2 percent in 2008.

The International Economic Research Center at Tsinghua University’s data show that of the U.S. total global exports, the export of steel scrap, copper scrap and aluminum scrap to China accounted for 75 percent, 61 percent and 61 percent, respectively. These percentages rank as No.1, 2, and 3 of the total U.S. exports to China. If we take the U.S. export of treasury bonds into consideration, those account for 63 percent of the total U.S. commodity and debt export.

"The U.S. has a comparative advantage in its high-tech products, but its total number of exports to China is too small," said JianDong Ju. “Developed countries led by the U.S. control high-tech exports to China. But mainstream U.S. economists claim that the trade imbalance between China and the U.S. is caused by undervalued RMB, ignoring the distortions in the trade structure.

“The export advantage of a country with an economy based on high-tech industry lies in technology. But [the U.S.] restricts the export of thousands of advanced technologies to China; [an alternative restriction method] is to have China fill out a thick wad of declarations.” Earlier, at the 2011 Sino-America Chamber of Commerce Appreciation Dinner, the Minister of Commerce, Deming Chen, called on the U.S. to relax its export controls and expand the export of high-tech products to China.

In addition, Jiandong Ju recommends that the East Asian Regions, including China, Korea and Singapore, unite together to form the third world [economic] pillar alongside the North American Free Trade Area and the European Union.


新京报讯 (记者李蕾)清华大学国际经济研究中心主任鞠建东昨日在中国开放新阶段论坛上表示,美国对华出口存在严重的结构扭曲,在高技术行业对华出口过少,对华出口最多的是废铜烂铁、国债、农产品和飞机。

近二十年来,中美贸易总额以平均每年近20%的速率持续增长。根据中国海关数据的统计,虽然中国从美国进口商品的总额逐年上升,但是占中国总进口的比例却呈下降趋势,由1989年的9.7%,下降到2008年的7.2%。清华大学国际经济研究中心数据显示,美国废钢、废铜和废铝对华出口占其全球出口的份额分别达到75%、61%和61%,位列美对华出口份额的第一、二、三位。如果把美国国债出口也考虑进来,美国对华出口商品或债务中,国债出口占总出口额的63%。
  
“美国的比较优势在其高科技产品。但美国在高技术行业对华出口过少。”鞠建东称,以美国主导的发达国家对中国技术出口进行管制,而美国主流经济学界对于中美贸易失衡的理论解释是人民币汇率低估,而贸易结构的扭曲一直被忽视。

“一个以高技术装备工业为主的国家,能出口的优势东西在这里。但是几千种不给我,或者说要填写厚厚的一叠申报。”此前,商务部长陈德铭在中美商会2011年岁末答谢晚宴上也呼吁美国放宽对华出口管制,扩大美国具有竞争优势的高技术产品对华出口。
  
此外,鞠建东建议包括中国、韩国、新加坡在内的东亚地区团结一致与北美自由贸易区以及欧盟形成三足鼎立的世界格局。
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