Detroit's Big Three automakers said this week that they will export thousands of vehicles to China over the next two years, substantially boosting the number of cars and trucks shipped to the world's fastest growing automotive market.

"The opportunities in China today are tremendous," Phil Murtaugh, the head of General Motors Corp.'s China Group, told reporters in a briefing in Detroit. "China has the world's fastest growing economy, the fastest growing middle class and the world's fastest growing car market."

The deals with GM, Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG were one of several deals with China announced on Wednesday to allay growing concerns of the US trade deficit with China.

Also on Wednesday, Boeing Co. and the aircraft engine unit of General Electric Co. signed deals to sell up to $1.7 billion in planes and engines to five Chinese airlines in 2005 and 2006.

GM said it will export about 17,500 partially or fully assembled vehicles, mostly US-built Cadillac luxury cars and sport utility vehicles, valued at more than $1.3 billion.

Those sales will add to its growing presence in China, where it has five joint-venture assembly plants, and ranks second among foreign automakers in sales with about an eight per cent share of the market.

Ford said it would export 5,250 vehicles by the end of 2004. Ford spokesman Chris Vinyard said it was considering exporting some of its sport utility vehicles to China. Ford has two joint venture factories and exports some vehicles to China from Europe.

DaimlerChrysler said it would export about 4,500 Chrysler and Mercedes models built in the United States.

Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Ma Xiuhong attended signing ceremonies on the export pacts with the automakers in the Detroit area on Wednesday. China's restrictions had kept vehicles imports from the US automakers at a minimum. Through the first nine months this year, China had imported only $53 million worth of US-built vehicles, a tiny fraction of the $20 billion sent from the United States, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

GM's announcement confirmed plans that GM officials had been talking about for months - to expand sales of its Cadillac luxury cars in China. Earlier this month, GM said it would expand car manufacturing capacity at its joint venture plants in China by 50 per cent, and begin assembling Cadillacs in Shanghai.

GM, the world's biggest automaker, exports to China fewer than 100 Cadillacs a year. But over the next two years, GM will export about 4,500 completely built vehicles, and an additional 13,000 partially assembled cars and trucks for final assembly in Shanghai.

The vehicles include the Cadillac CTS sedans, SRX mid-size sport utility vehicles, the next-generation Seville and the XLR roadster.

GM also said that Chinese import buyers have also agreed to import an additional 1,000 GM vehicles.

The world's biggest car maker said it also signed two agreements with its joint-venture company in Shanghai to export to China about $1.1 billion of auto components and parts for its Buick Regal sedans and Buick GL8 wagons.

Since 1999, GM's Shanghai joint venture has purchased more than $1.5 billion worth of parts and components from North American suppliers.