LAREDO, the United States, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Laredo, one of the largest inland ports of the United States, is seeking a stronger trade relationship with China, an official said.
The two-day annual North American Logistic & Manufacturing Symposium closed Thursday in Laredo, a city built up along the border between the United States and Mexico.
At the symposium, Olivia Varela, president and CEO of Laredo Economic Development Corporation, told Xinhua that China is one of the major trading partners of Laredo with the top trading commodities being electronics, textiles and automotive parts.
"One of our major trading partners is China, last year with a 5 percent increase in trade coming in from China into the United States through this port of entry. So we considered China one of our strongest trading partners that is critical to this region."
Imports and exports worth more than 557 billion U.S. dollars passed through the city in 2017, according to the Laredo Economic Development Corporation. Mexico was the top trading partner of all those goods, and China was the second.
Commenting on the ongoing trade frictions between the United States and China, Varela said she hoped those issues would be resolved as soon as possible.
"We fully expect that once all of these issues are resolved, we will have a much strong relationship and anything that is currently being put on hold will just continue to move forward. We have a very positive outlook for once this is all resolved that we're going to see probably a much more significant growth than that 5 percent in our trade," she said.
With the theme of "Supply Chains in the New Global Reality," this year's symposium focused on the impact of the rapidly changing political climate on international trade, transportation, and manufacturing sectors in the short and long term.
Around 200 politicians, businessmen and scholars from the United States, Mexico and Canada attended the two-day symposium.
