"At least 90 percent of US imports from China are goods that are no longer produced in the United States," Hu said.

"Even if not from China, the United States will still have to import these products from other suppliers."

He said China has been "increasing imports" from the US and has "worked hard" to reduce the bilateral trade surplus, citing China's import of 6.7 billion dollars' worth of US soybeans and other farm products as well as orders for 60 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft last year.

Hu listed a series of steps China is taking to improve its economy and further open its market to US and other foreign companies, including welcoming more small and medium-sized American firms to explore business opportunities in China and encouraging Chinese firms to invest in the US market.

Hu also said he wanted to make China's foreign exchange markets more efficient, but China was not ready for a drastic change in the value of Renminbi currency.

"Our goal is to keep the Renminbi exchange rate basically stable at adaptive and equilibrium levels," Hu said. "China will continue to firmly promote financial reforms, improve the Renminbi exchange rate-setting mechanism, develop the foreign exchange market, and increase the flexibility of the Renminbi exchange rate."

Visiting Boeing's wide-body jet assembly plant earlier, he called his country's long-running relationship with Boeing an example of the potential of China-U.S. trade.

"Boeing's cooperation with China is a living example of the mutually beneficial cooperation and win-win outcome that China and the United States have achieved from trade with each other," Hu said.

He estimated that demand for new aircraft in China will reach 2,000 planes in the next 15 years.

***Bush: Keeping American on the cutting edge

On Wednesday, President Bush said the United States needs to keep on the cutting edge in research in the face of growing competition over jobs and natural resources from India and China.

Bush singled out the world's two most populous nations one day before Hu Jintao's scheduled visit to the White House on Thursday. Bush noted that event and his recent trip to India.

"These countries are emerging nations," Bush said in a speech at Tuskegee University. "They are growing rapidly and they provide competition for jobs and natural resources. As these new jobs of the 21st century come into being, people are going to hire people with the skills set," he said. "And if our folks don't have the skill set, those jobs are going to go somewhere else."

Before his speech, Bush visited a lab at Tuskegee where students were researching nano-technology. The science involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the molecular or atomic level. Bush also urged Congress to make permanent a popular tax credit for businesses that invest in research and development.

"It's research that will keep the United States on the cutting edge," Bush said.

Bush remarked that government-funded research contributed to the development of the iPod music player. "I tune into the iPod occasionally," the president said to laughter from the audience.