China urges US to wrap up trade agreement before election

Chen Deming, former commerce minister. [Photo provided to China Daily]

US companies had invested $77.5 billion in China by the end of 2015 and China had invested $46.6 billion in the US during the same period, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Bilateral trade reached $558.39 billion last year, up 0.6 percent year-on-year from 2014.

"The bilateral investment treaty certainly can provide one of the best opportunities to cut investment barriers and increase transparency level in both countries and ensure a level playing field among all companies, as well as improving protections for Chinese and US investors in each other's markets," said Merit Janow, dean of the School of Management and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Talks on the investment treaty began in 2008 as both countries sought to increase mutual investment, which only accounted for a tiny share of their overseas investment. They have completed 24 rounds of negotiations by January of this year.

"Reinforcing the relationship between China and the US will be more challenging and even more important now as the presidential election campaign creates a tendency among leaders running for office to blame US economic problems on other countries," said Yao Zhizhong, deputy director of the Beijing-based Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.