John D. Boyd | Jan 19, 2011 2:48PM EST
Recent deals with China linked to this week's Washington visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao will generate more than $45 billion worth of U.S. exports, the White House said.
Those include a number of transportation equipment agreements. China is buying 200 Boeing airplanes valued at $19 billion, and Chinese companies have signed 70 other manufacturing contracts worth $25 billion for such products as General Electric locomotives and Navistar exports of parts to build commercial trucks and diesel engines in China under a joint venture there. A sale of five Erickson Air-Crane commercial heavy lift helicopters is also pending.
Another $3 billion in investment contracts have been signed, according to a White House fact sheet, plus other transactions that should generate about $1 billion worth of U.S. export content.
President Obama is hosting Hu for a state visit in which the U.S. push to boost exports plays a key role. Already, China buys about $100 billion in U.S. goods and services a year. It is the third-largest U.S. trading partner after Canada and Mexico.
But U.S. sales to China are growing at double the pace of overall U.S. exports, and the White House said the large batch of new deals in connection with Hu's trip will support an estimated 235,000 American jobs.
-- Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.
