China’s record trade surplus reveals its biggest strength – and hidden weakness
Booming exports have seen China’s trade surplus surpass $1trn, but the figures reveal the extent to which it is still reliant on foreign marketsA boom in exports that has pushed China’s trade surplus past $1tn for the first time reveals the extent to which its economy is still overwhelmingly...
<p>Booming exports have seen China’s trade surplus surpass $1trn, but the figures reveal the extent to which it is still reliant on foreign markets</p><p>A boom in exports that has pushed China’s trade surplus past $1tn for the first time reveals the extent to which its economy is still overwhelmingly reliant on foreign markets – and the difficulty figures like Donald Trump will have in trying to rebalance global trade.</p><p>Data released on Monday shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China’s trade surplus in goods was $1.076tn. The record trade surplus comes even as exports to the US have plummeted, a reflection of the bruising <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/13/why-us-china-trade-war-restarted-tariffs">US-China trade war</a> that, despite a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/trump-xi-talks-rare-earths-tariffs-us-china">recent cooling</a>, has dampened the flow of goods between the world’s two largest economies.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/09/chinas-record-high-trade-surplus-reveals-the-difficulty-trump-will-have-in-rebalancing-global-economy">Continue reading...</a>
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