Keep knowledgeable with free updates
Merely signal as much as the Chinese language commerce myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.
China’s commerce surplus with the remainder of the world reached a document of virtually $1tn in 2024, official information confirmed on Monday, solely every week earlier than Donald Trump is about to take workplace within the US with a vow to impose punitive tariffs on its greatest financial rival.
The $992bn Chinese language commerce surplus, greater than a 3rd of which was with the US, is anticipated to gasoline additional tensions with Washington and different commerce companions, which have pushed again on a surge of Chinese language exports this yr.
Trump, who shall be inaugurated as US president on January 20, was swept again into the White Home after pledging to use tariffs of as much as 60 per cent on Chinese language items and a blanket 20 per cent tariff on all US buying and selling companions.
China’s exports rose 10.7 per cent in December yr on yr in greenback phrases, Chinese language customs figures confirmed, whereas imports climbed 1 per cent, beating common analyst forecasts from Reuters of a 7.3 per cent rise and 1.5 per cent decline, respectively.
In November, exports rose 6.7 per cent yr on yr, whereas imports shrank 3.9 per cent.
China’s commerce surplus with the US elevated 6.9 per cent in 2024 in contrast with a yr earlier to $361.03bn, Chinese language customs figures confirmed.
Analysts at Barclays stated the double-digit export progress indicated that Chinese language producers have been “front-loading” shipments to get forward of potential Trump tariffs.