China’s foreign trade value hit a record high of $1 trillion in the first 11 months of 2004, making it the third largest trading country in the world.
In these months, trade between China and Europe reached $159.3 billion, which was 34.7% higher than the same period the previous year.
The EU has become China’s largest partner in trade moving past Japan and the U.S.
As people in the United States, Japan, and Europe bought more products from China, the country’s exports rose 33 percent in December, sending trade surplus to the highest numbers ever.
“The global growth story is strong, the Asian growth story is strong and the China growth story is very strong,” Tim Condon of Asian financial markets research stated. “All these factors account for the strength in the data.”
“Surging exports are helping drive growth in the world’s seventh-largest economy as the government restricts lending and raises interest rates to slow industrial expansion. Today’s trade figures may also increase pressure on China to curb subsidies for exporters, revalue the yuan and clamp down on counterfeiting during a visit this week by U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans.
The U.S. has been pressing China to change the yuan’s decade- old peg of about 8.3 to the dollar, saying the fixed rate depresses the yuan’s value, giving Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage by making their goods cheaper abroad. Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Nov. 20 that China will allow for a yuan revaluation only when the economy is strong enough to withstand disruptions that may occur from a switch.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
Your source for investigative ebusiness reporting and breaking news.
