WASHINGTON (XINHUA) - US exports to China have supported one million American jobs, making trade important to not only US companies and consumers, but also US workers, a report released by the US-China Business Council (USCBC) on Monday (April 30) showed.

Exports to China support one million American jobs annually across a wide range of industries and continue to contribute to US economic growth, said USCBC President John Frisbie.

Over the last decade, US exports of goods to China grew by 86 per cent, compared with only 21-per-cent growth for the country's exports to the rest of the world, said the report.

As the third largest market for US goods and services exports, China saw its imports of goods from the United States rise by US$14 billion (S$18.6 billion) in 2017, twice as fast as US exports to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, US services exports to China grew by 12 per cent in 2016, while the country's services exports to the rest of the world decreased by 0.6 per cent.

Trade with China have also benefited most US states, the report showed. A total of 49 states have increased their goods exports to China in the past decade, with 17 states experiencing triple-digit growth since 2008.

China-US trade relationship is under great pressure, as the White House threatened to levy massive tariffs on about US$150 billion of goods imported from China.

American business community and trade analysts have been urging the White House to negotiate about the trade differences with China, warning that unilateralism and trade protectionism will inevitably harm others without benefiting oneself as the global economy is deeply integrated.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump announced that an official delegation from the US will travel to China to discuss the bilateral trade relationship beginning on Thursday.