China US Photo:Global Times

China's trade with the US plunged in contrast to the overall upbeat trend in China's foreign trade in the first half of this year. China is calling for mutual efforts to create a favorable trade environment and fulfill the phase one trade deal between China and the US, according to a press conference for the China customs authority on Tuesday. 

Bilateral trade between China and the US in the first half of the year dropped 6.6 percent compared to the same period last year. China's exports to the US plummeted 8.1 percent to 1.25 trillion yuan ($178.68 billion), and imports from the US were down 1.5 percent to 395.62 billion yuan in June, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The US-China trade slide was in sharp contrast to the overall better-than-expected foreign trade in the first six months of the year. China's total foreign trade was down only 3.2 percent in the first half of 2020, and both exports and imports registered positive growth in June, at 4.3 percent and 6.2 percent. 

"China has been fulfilling the phase one deal and purchasing the products as promised, but the US' imports from China dropped largely because of the country's ineffective containment of the coronavirus and policy uncertainties," Xu Hongcai, an economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

In the first half of 2020, China's trade surplus with the US was slashed by 10.8 percent to 851.71 billion yuan, a clear indication that China has been rebalancing the trade with the US, according to Xu. 

COVID-19 has not been effectively contained the US, and has been severely disrupting the supply chain between the two countries, dragging down US orders, Xu said.

The drop in imports from the US in the first half of 2020 was 1.8 percent sharper than the overall imports drop, said the GAC. 

China still sees the US as an important trade partner, and bilateral trade as mutually beneficial, said GAC spokesperson Li Kuiwen on Tuesday, noting that healthy and stable development in China-US trade will be significant in stabilizing the countries' economies and lifting world economy out of the coronavirus impact. 

Global Times