Beijing reveals unease over trade in economic road map for 2026

It vows to develop new growth engines, is alert for potential flare-up in tensions

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Hours after China announced that its trade surplus has surpassed US$1 trillion in just 11 months, a readout of the Politburo's meeting on Dec 8 made a veiled reference to the uncertainty overseas. It called for "better coordination between domestic economic work and an international economic and trade battle."

(PHOTO: AFP)

China’s top leaders are signalling they are on alert for a potential flareup of tensions in global commerce as they draw up economic plans for 2026, after amassing a record trade surplus despite the tariff war with the US.

Hours after China announced that its excess of exports to imports has surpassed US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) in just 11 months, a readout of the Politburo’s meeting on Dec 8 made a veiled reference to the uncertainty overseas. It called for “better coordination between domestic economic work and an international economic and trade battle”.

It vowed to “act without delay” to develop new growth engines.

For analysts parsing the language used by the Communist Party’s decision-making body led by President Xi Jinping, the takeaway is that vigilance will be important for policymakers, even as they have withheld bolder stimulus measures in 2025 from an economy in the grip of a slowdown.

More than a year on from Mr Donald Trump’s reelection, the threats looming abroad are more likely to come from countries other than the US - so long as a fragile trade truce holds between the world’s two biggest economies.

Economic countermeasures are on the table as tensions escalate with Japan over the self-governing island of Taiwan, while Mexico’s Congress is set to vote this week on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s proposed tariffs on China.