Others News
- August trade surplus widens to US$24.97b
Date: 12-Sep-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE country's trade surplus widened 33 percent in August to the second-highest on record, handing more ammunition to U.S. politicians pushing for protectionist barriers.
The gap increased to US$24.97 billion from US$18.81 billion a year earlier, according to figures released by the General Administration of Customs yesterday on its Web site.
U.S. Congress may pass a law to press for gains in the value of the yuan to make imports from China more expensive and narrow the trade gap between the two nations.
Exports rose 22.7 percent in August from a year earlier and imports climbed 20.1 percent, the customs bureau said. For the first eight months of 2007, the trade surplus surged 71 percent to US$161.76 billion.
China's currency has gained 10 percent versus the U.S. dollar since the end of a fixed exchange rate in 2005.
Overseas sales helped drive an 11.9 percent expansion of China's economy in the second quarter, the fastest pace in more than 12 years. The nation's reputation as a manufacturer and assembler of consumer goods has been dented by incidents including the recall by Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, of 21 million Chinese-made toys.
'In the United States, some people are taking advantage of cases to promote protectionism against China,'' Kuang Weilin, China's deputy consul general in New York, said at a press briefing last month. He hoped politicians wouldn't 'demonize'' the country.
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