The U.S.-China economic relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world today. The world's 7th largest economy as recently as 1999, China has recently surpassed Germany to become the world's 2nd largest, having grown at better than 9 percent annually for two decades. If such growth is maintained, China could surpass Japan as the world’s second largest economy by 2020.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December of 2001, trade between the United States and China has more than tripled, exports to China have grown at six times the pace of U.S. exports to the rest of the world, and China has risen from America's 9th largest export market to its 3rd largest. Over the last four years, the United States and China have accounted for half of global economic growth. Without question, how this critical relationship develops and evolves will be one of the most important factors determining the growth and stability of the global economy in the 21st century.

The Forum is strongly of the view that active cooperation between the United States and China remains the most constructive means of ensuring that the citizens of both nations mutually benefit from the growing bilateral economic relationship. In particular, the Forum believes that continued reform and modernization of China's underdeveloped financial sector is critical to China achieving its own economic goals of maintaining high rates of growth and job creation, building a more services-based, consumer-driven economy, reducing poverty, and ensuring a more equitable distribution of opportunity and prosperity – and to successfully addressing the issues that have complicated the U.S.-China economic relationship, such as the trade imbalance and China’s currency policy.

To enhance the growing bilateral relationship, in March 2009, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced the creation of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The high-level dialogue will serve as an unprecedented channel of communication between U.S. and Chinese policymakers and will provide an overarching framework for the examination of long-term strategic issues, as well as coordination of ongoing bilateral policy discussions. The first meeting took place in July 2009. The Forum supports the goals of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue and applauds the new Administration for continuing high-level engagement with China.