Foreign direct investment (FDI) flowing both ways between the U.S. and China may be two to four times greater than shown by data from both governments, according to a Rhodium Group analysis of deals from 1990 to 2015 released in a joint report with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Nearly 6,700 U.S. investments in China over that quarter century have a combined value of USD228 billion, Rhodium found, far beyond the USD75 billion U.S. Department of Commerce estimate or the USD70 billion from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). China’s 1,200 transactions over those years come to a combined value of USD64 billion, eclipsing MOFCOM’s USD41 billion tally and the USD15 billion to USD21 billion range from the Commerce Department. For the first time, Chinese companies invested more in the U.S. last year than American companies in China. Economic integration “is much greater than official statistics suggest,” said Thilo Hanemann, Economist at Rhodium who manages the consulting firm’s work on global trade and investment and co-wrote the report. “That means that the costs on both sides from protectionist frictions are much higher than commonly assumed.” Such links may be more crucial than ever as President-elect Donald Trump contemplates protectionist measures. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Trump in their first phone conversation that cooperation was the only correct choice for their ties. American companies employ more than 1.6 million workers in China, while that country’s investment presence provides more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S., and the benefits are spread across more than 90% of U.S. states and Chinese provinces, the South China Morning Post reports.