FACTBOX-U.S.-China interdependence transcends trade

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By Lucy Hornby

HANGZHOU, China, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Hangzhou this week at the annual Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, a few weeks before U.S. President Barack Obama makes his first official trip to China.

With the two giant economies joined at the hip, the U.S.-China relationship is strained by issues like the value of the yuan, but is unlikely to unravel over any single dispute.

"Made in China" products accounted for less than 1 percent of U.S. imports a quarter of a century ago.

Now, China's high rate of savings is used to buy U.S. treasuries, allowing Americans to buy Chinese exports. That has driven economic growth in China and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.

TRADE

By 2008, U.S. exports to China totalled $69.7 billion, but were dwarfed by $337.8 billion in exports from China to the United States, now Beijing's second biggest trade partner.

The U.S. trade deficit with China has grown steadily since 1985, when its exports to China were worth $3.86 billion, $6 million less than the value of Chinese shipments to the United States. Bilateral trade was less than $2.5 billion in 1979.