(Yicai) Nov. 16 -- Experts from the United States are looking forward to positive developments in the China-US relationship to come out of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting being held in San Francisco.

Good news is expected, Dominic Ng, chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Commission and East West Bank, told Yicai on the sidelines of the meeting. ABAC has submitted a comprehensive advisory proposal to APEC leaders on issues such as economic integration and trade investment, he added.

The stable and healthy development of US-China relations is very important to American firms investing in the Chinese market, and only if the relationship is stable can they develop there in the long term, said Eric Zheng, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

US companies believe China is a crucial strategic market, Zheng said. Despite past supply chain challenges, they still choose to develop in the country and look forward to long-term success in the market, he added, noting that the businesses have made adjustments, trying to balance resilience and efficiency.

There are signs that China-US relations have improved to some extent, noted Geoffrey Garret, dean of the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. For the first time, the federal government officially attended the China International Import Expo, held in Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10, and people in the Central US are more upbeat about selling more farm produce to China, which is positive progress, he pointed out.

Many US businesses have told Washington that they need China because their manufacturing production is based there, and it has huge market potential, Garret added. And particularly for firms in the tech and auto industries such as Tesla and Apple, the Chinese market or the production lines there are key to their growth, he noted, adding that the two sides are making efforts to get the relationship back on the right track.

APEC's 21 economies make up almost 40 percent of the world's total population and account for nearly 50 percent of global trade. China-US trade rose 0.6 percent to USD759.4 billion last year, over USD50 billion of which came from agricultural products, with US farm exports to China reaching a record USD42 billion. 

The six-day APEC leaders’ meeting concludes tomorrow.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Martin Kadiev