China-US trade amounted to US$221.36 billion in the first three quarters of this year, a growth of 15.6 percent on the same period of last year.

According to customs data, China's export to the United States increased by 15.8 percent to US$169.99 billion, or 19.4 percent of China's total exports. The country's import from the US went up 15.1 percent to US$51.37 billion, or 7.45 percent of the country's total import.

China's trade surplus against the US continued to expand but at a slower pace. It stood at US$118.62 billion between January and September, up US$16.43 billion or 16.1 percent. But the growth rate was 9.7 percentage points lower that that for last year's same period.

Most of the surplus came from processing trade, which rose 12.4 percent year-on-year to US$119.16 billion, or 53.8 percent of the total bilateral trade. The processing trade made up US$91.46 billion, or 77.1 percent, of the trade surplus.

Foreign-funded enterprises accounted for 65.5 percent of the bilateral trade in the first three quarters, or 72.4 percent of China's trade surplus against the US.