China-US bilateral trade has been benefiting both countries. China is the largest trade partner of the US while the US is the second largest trade partner of China. As US President Donald Trump begins his China visit on Wednesday, experts say this trip would forge a longer, stable and predictable relationship, making the China-US economic cooperation flourishing again. 

Official data showed that China's exports to the US stood at 389 billion US dollars in 2016, 7.2 times the amount in 2001; while US exports to China surged 500 percent in 2016 from 2001. 

In 2016, US goods exports to China totaled 113 billion US dollars, holding steady with the previous year, and China is still the third-largest US goods export market. Airplanes, cars, soy beans and cotton were among the main US exports to China. 

The US is also a hot destination for Chinese tourists and students who spent 51 billion US dollars in America in 2016, based on China’s Ministry of Commerce and the US Department of Commerce.

China-US trade issue and the DPRK nuclear issue are expected to top the agenda during the visit, according to Jessica Stone, CGTN's White House correspondent. But as the first foreign leader to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping after Xi’s re-election at the 19th CPC National Congress, Stone expected to see more focus on commercial deal rather than bubble of trade tension. 

“Things will be much more commercial deal focus. I think we would see a lot of talks about trade and trade aspects, but I’m not sure how much move we are going to see,” Stone said. 

Trump did bring an “A Team” of corporate executives with him to Beijing. When he went to Saudi Arabia recently, he signed 400-billion-US-dollar worth of deals. 

Will Trump take billions worth of deals from China again?

“I don’t expect it to reach 100 billion. But I think it [would be] certainly a big number,” Wang Huiyao, president of Center for China & Globalization (CCG) told CGTN. Instead, Wang focused more on the symbol of Trump’s visit, remarking the importance of the high-level meeting between Xi and Trump “in person.”

“Right now, the investments on both side are slowing down a bit. But also there are lots of concerns on the imbalance. If Chinese and American companies are working together, we may go back to the stage of company-wide collaborations, as long as both governments give ‘green lights.’ So it’s very important that the high-level meeting…forge a longer, stable and predictable relation, so that business can flourish again,” Wang explained. 

The US has been maintaining a surplus in service trade with China for a long time. US registered a 56-billion-US-dollar surplus in service trade with China in 2016. That's 40 times the amount in 2006. At the same time, the US saw a trade deficit with China in 2016 but the amount slumped 20 billion US dollars from the previous year.

Even Trump called the US trade deficit with China "embarrassing" and "horrible” last week. China-US trade relation is widely discussed among Americans and some American experts commented that Trump might not use very tough language on trade talks during the visit because he really needs China’s help. 

Wang said cooperation with China did benefit Trump as more Chinese investments into the US would help Trump’s “America great again.” 

“I think the most important is that maybe the US and China should work on the infrastructure initiative that Trump has put forward. China in last decade has spent 11 trillion US dollars on infrastructure. The other one is attracting more Chinese investments that the US are looking for. Chinese companies can afford that. And more investments coming could help make Trump’s ‘America great again,'” Wang suggested.

China is opening up its financial markets step by step. And American banks, insurances, securities and fund management companies are increasing their presence in China. Shanghai Pudong district, for example, in the first half of 2017 attracted 8,781 foreign companies setting up there. 

“Xi at the 19th CPC National Congress mentioned that all companies registered in China should be treated equal. We should relax more on foreign investment. So those are good signals preparing for Trump’s visit,” Wang stressed.