From the Financial Times:
China is preparing a multi-billion-dollar buying mission to major American cities next month as part of a package of initiatives to reduce its swelling trade surplus and ease bilateral tensions with the US.
Although details have yet to be finalised, the buying mission is to be led by Ma Xiuhong, a vice-minister of commerce, and take in the cities of Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington. Chinese businesses are expected to announce the purchase of $12bn in US agricultural and industrial goods as a result.
High-profile buying missions, from Japan and more recently China, have become a feature of trade diplomacy in Asian countries that run large surpluses with the US. [Full Text]
Related report from AP: China is now No. 2 in exports says,”China surpassed the United States as the world’s second-largest exporter sometime last year, according to figures released yesterday by the World Trade Organization, and the Asian country is pulling further and further ahead.”
