Trade was one of the main topics during President Xi Jinping’s address to the U.K.’s Parliament. The U.K., Xi said, is the largest offshore RMB trading center, hosts more Chinese students than any other EU country, and was the first western country to issue RMB sovereign bonds. The Guardian also reported that more than $34 billion in trade and investment deals is expected to be struck during the visit.
Here’s more views of the economic ties between the two countries, as China and the U.K. are becoming “increasingly inter-dependent and becoming a community of shared interests,” as Xi said.
First, a global look: China’s trade with the world has increased at a sharp rate since the early 2000s, including accounting for the 2008 financial crisis that rippled through the global economy.
Data: China Statistical Yearbook
Since 1990, GDP has steadily increased across China, the U.K., and the world. But the increase has been the most dramatic in China: on average, GDP has increased 15.3 percent year over year since 1990; In the U.K., that rate has been 4.5 percent.
Data: World Bank
Meanwhile, the proportion of global GDP attributable to China has also increased.
Data: World Bank
Trade in goods between the U.K. and China was worth $77.3 billion in 2014, triple what it was a decade prior.
The U.K. consistently imports more goods from China than it exports.
Data: Office for National Statistics
Foreign direct investment is expected to grow
By 2020, U.K. investors are expected to quadruple the amount of money they’re spending in China. Within five years, FDI will increase to 26 billion pounds ($40 billion) in 2020 from 6.7 billion pounds ($10.3 billion) in 2014, according to a study by King & Wood Mallesons.