China reports world record trade surplus

Exports continue to flood global markets

- KEITH BRADSHER

The assembly line at a car factory in Chongging, China, in May. Exports to the United States fell, but they rose to much of the rest of the world.

(KYT)

China announced yesterday the world’s largest trade surplus ever, even adjusting for inflation, as a tsunami of exports flooded markets around the world last year.

China’s surplus, the value of goods and services it sold abroad versus its imports, reached $1.19 trillion, an increase of 20% from 2024, according to data released by the country’s General Administration of Customs. The number had already exceeded $1 trillion through November.

The country’s surplus is still widening. For December alone, China’s surplus reached $114.14 billion — the third-highest monthly surplus on record, trailing only January and June last year.

The enormous trade surplus for the full year came despite efforts by US President Donald Trump to use tariffs to contain China's factories. The tariffs reduced China's trade surplus with the United States. But Chinese factories increased sales to other regions, in many cases bypassing US tariffs by shipping goods to the United States through Southeast Asia and elsewhere.