China's trade ends 2025 with record trillion-dollar surplus despite Trump tariffs
· CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
BEIJING: China on Wednesday (Jan 14) reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record trillion-dollar surplus, as producers braced for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the production powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.
Beijing's resilience to renewed tariff tensions since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last January has emboldened Chinese firms to shift their focus to Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America to offset US duties.
With Beijing looking to exports to counteract a prolonged property slump and sluggish domestic demand, the record-shattering surplus risks further unsettling economies concerned about China's trade practices and overcapacity, as well as their overreliance on key Chinese products.
The manufacturing powerhouse's full-year trade surplus came in at US$1.189 trillion - a figure on par with the GDP of a top-20 economy globally like Saudi Arabia - customs data showed on Wednesday, having broken the trillion-dollar ceiling for the first time in November.
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
This service is not intended for persons residing in the E.U. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive news updates and promotional material from Mediacorp and Mediacorp’s partners.
Loading
"The momentum for global trade growth looks to be insufficient, and the external environment for China's foreign trade development remains severe and complex," Wang Jun, a vice minister at China's customs administration, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
However, "with more diversified trading partners, (China's) ability to withstand risks has been significantly enhanced," Wang said, adding that "the fundamentals for China's foreign trade remain solid".
Outbound shipments from the world's second-biggest economy grew 6.6 per cent in value terms year-on-year in December, compared with a 5.9 per cent increase in November. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 3.0 per cent increase.
Imports were up 5.7 per cent, after a 1.9 per cent bump the month earlier and also beat a forecast for a 0.9 per cent uptick.
EXPORTS UP AS CHINA SET TO GAIN MORE GLOBAL SHARE
China's yuan held steady following the upbeat data even as equity investors welcomed the forecast-beating numbers. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index and blue-chip CSI300 index both rose more than 1 per cent in morning deals.
The Asian economic juggernaut's monthly export surpluses exceeded US$100 billion seven times last year, partially underpinned by a weakened yuan, up from just once in 2024, underscoring that Trump's actions have barely dented China's trade with the wider world even if he has curbed US-bound shipments.
Economists expect China to continue gaining global market share this year, helped by Chinese firms setting up overseas production hubs that provide lower-tariff access to the United States and the European Union, as well as by strong demand for lower-grade chips and other electronics.
A flagship of Beijing's global industrial ambitions, China's auto industry saw overall exports jump 19.4 per cent to 5.79 million vehicles last year, with pure EV shipments up 48.8 per cent. China would likely remain the world's top auto exporter for a third year after first superseding Japan in 2023.
Beijing, however, has shown signs of recognising it must moderate its industrial exports if it is to sustain its success, and the leadership has been increasingly cognizant and vocal about imbalances in China's economy and the image problem outsized exports are causing.
After November's trillion-dollar surplus data, Chinese Premier Li Qiang was quoted last week on national television as calling for "proactively expanding imports and promoting the balanced development of imports and exports".
The country also scrapped subsidy-like export tax rebates for its solar industry, a long-standing point of friction with EU states.
Lawmakers last month passed revisions to the Foreign Trade Law after two, rather than the usual three readings, in a signal to members of a major trans-Pacific trade pact that China is prepared to shift from industrial subsidies and towards freer, more open trade.
Despite the year-long truce on tariffs that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping struck in late October, US duties of 47.5 per cent on Chinese goods are well above the roughly 35 per cent level analysts say enables Chinese firms to export to the US at a profit.
Newsletter
Week in Review
Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review
Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.
Newsletter
Morning Brief
Subscribe to CNA’s Morning Brief
An automated curation of our top stories to start your day.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app