A Comparative Study on the Statistical Systems of Sino-US Trade in Services

This paper makes a multi-dimensional comparative study on the service trade system between China and the United States. In terms of legal basis, the United States has established the statutory statistical authority of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the Ministry of Commerce with the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act, forming a multi-sectoral coordination mechanism; China mainly relies on departmental regulations and lacks legislative protection at the national level. In terms of statistical system, the United States has built a three-dimensional data system of “core survey + administrative records + model estimation” and has taken the lead in carrying out special statistics on digital deliverable services; China focuses on direct reporting by key enterprises, and data integration and technical means are relatively lagging behind. In terms of market opening, the United States pursues a comprehensive liberalization policy, actively promotes high-standard agreements such as Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), and advocates the free flow of data; China has implemented gradual opening up through platforms such as the Pilot Free Trade Zone and the comprehensive pilot program for expanding the opening up of the service industry, and established a negative list management system, but regional policies still have fragmentation problems. In terms of industrial support, U.S. service trade is dominated by high value-added areas such as intellectual property rights, finance, and professional services; although China has advantages in scale in traditional service industries, its international competitiveness in knowledge-intensive services still needs to be improved. It is suggested that China should speed up the legislative process of service trade, improve the cross-departmental data sharing mechanism, promote institutional opening up, and strengthen the innovation capability of digital services.