China says it’s ready to spend in U.S.
Meena Thiruvengadam, Express-News Business Writer
China is looking to spend $200 billion and wants to direct some of that cash toward the U.S., the Chinese Embassy’s minister and deputy chief of mission said in San Antonio on Thursday.
“The U.S. is one of our primary targets,” Washington, D.C.-based Zheng Zeguang said during a daylong seminar on doing business with China. The seminar at the University of the Incarnate Word was hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio International Trade Center, Free Trade Alliance San Antonio and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
China is the United States’ No. 2 trading partner behind Canada, according to statistics from the Census Bureau. Early this month, it launched the China Investment Corp., one of the world’s largest sovereign funds.
The national trade deficit with China was $57.6 billion in August, a “welcome breath of fresh air on the trade front,” according to economist Brian Bethune with the research and forecasting firm Global Insight. The figure is the lowest in seven months.
“It’s not the policy of the Chinese government to pursue a trade surplus with the U.S.,” Zheng said during a luncheon speech. “It’s against our best interest.”
Texas energy, high tech and IT businesses are in a particularly strong position to benefit from the investment fund, he said afterward.
A group of city leaders and business owners from San Antonio went on a trade mission to China last month.
And a trade delegation from China is scheduled to visit San Antonio later this month, said Kyle Burns, executive director of the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio.
