US firms attending expo shows how hard decoupling would be

THE 2ND CHINA INTERNATIONAL IMPORT EXPO will open soon, and according to the Ministry of Commerce, 192 US companies will participate in the exhibition, ranking first among participating countries. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Despite the headwinds of the trade frictions between China and the United States, the enthusiasm of US companies to attend the event shows that the deep integration between China and the United States is irreversible.

Over the 40 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the bilateral trade in goods has grown 252 times and the two countries have become each other's largest trading partner and important source of investment. Between 2009 and 2018, US exports to China supported more than 11 million jobs in the US. In 2017, US companies registered annual sales of $700 billion in China, generating a profit of more than $50 billion, and 97 percent of the surveyed US companies said they were profitable in China.