2017年CRI Trump's visit to China fruitful for Chinese, U.S. businesses

On the sidelines of U.S. President Donald Trump 1's state visit to China, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have witnessed the signing of deals worth 253.5 billion U.S. dollars, making the US head of state's visit to China one of the most fruitful for Chinese and US businesses, in terms of the value of agreements struck.

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This is seen as part of Trump's effort to reduce the massive trade deficit 2 between China and United States.

Following the signing ceremony, Trump said that he does not blame China on the trade imbalance.

"I do blame past administrations for allowing this out of controlled trade deficit to take place and to grow," said Trump.

President Xi Jinping responded warmly that China is committed to further opening its economy to foreign investment.

"China will not close its doors, and will open them even wider. We will promote a new pattern of all-round opening up following the strategic arrangements made by 19th Communist Party of China National Congress. Foreign companies in China, including American ones, will find the market 'more open, more transparent 3 and more orderly,'" said Xi.

The deals, covering from food to energy, include purchases of Boeing aircraft, Ford 4 automobiles 5, U.S. soybeans and joint 6 development of liquefied natural gas in Alaska.

Among those agreements, the China Energy Investment Corporation Limited's plan to invest 83.7 billion US dollars in shale 7 gas development and chemical manufacturing projects in West Virginia was the largest deal.

Wood Thrasher, Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Commerce of West Virginia, said that the agreement will be beneficial for both sides.

"Without that investment, our area would struggle to be able to bring the full potential of these materials, but with this partnership 8 which we now have with Shenhua, we believe it will be beneficial, not only for Shenhua, but very beneficial for the citizens of West Virginia and the whole country of the United States," said Thrasher.

"China has drawn 9 up a two-stage development plan for the period from 2020 to the middle of this century, and energy will be the basic pillar industry. That is why we have signed a 83.7 billion US dollars contract with West Virginia. This is in accordance with our two-stage development plan," said Ling Wen, President of China's Shenhua Group, which has been restructured into the China Energy Investment Corporation.

Among other deals, China Petroleum 10 and Chemical Corp, the state energy group, signed a 43 billion U.S. dollar deal to jointly 11 explore for natural gas with the US in Alaska. China Investment Corp will offer financial support, and Bank of China will help with finance, too.

Bill Walker, Governor of the Alaska, said that the cooperation had gained great support on the government level on both sides.

"When President Xi was in Alaska, I spent about 4 or 5 hours with him. We talked about the opportunities between China and Alaska. What we are seeing today is part of the result of that. I've also had the chance to visit President Trump about this opportunity as well. So we are excited to be here today for the signing," said Walker.

China Investment Corp and Goldman Sachs have signed a strategic agreement to establish a China and United States industrial cooperation fund.

Chinese purchases of planes from Boeing and imports of Tesla cars into China are among the rest of the deals.