BEIJING China's trade surplus tops $1 trillion

CHINA'S trade surplus tops $1 trillion despite plunge in US-bound exports

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China's towering annual trade surplus surpassed $1 trillion for the first time last month, data showed yesterday, as a sharp drop in shipments to the US was offset by surging exports to other major markets.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump reached a tentative truce to their fierce trade war when they met in late October, agreeing a pause to painful measures that included lofty tit-for-tat tariffs.

Exports have served as a key economic lifeline for China as trade and relations with the US and others have fluctuated in recent years.

That has helped temper a prolonged debt crisis in the country's vast property sector and sluggish domestic spending, which have weighed on growth and are among the most pressing issues facing Beijing.