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China’s trade surplus with the rest of the world reached a record of almost $1tn in 2024, official data showed on Monday, only a week before Donald Trump is set to take office in the US with a vow to impose punitive tariffs on its biggest economic rival.
The $992bn Chinese trade surplus, more than a third of which was with the US, is expected to fuel further tensions with Washington and other trade partners, which have pushed back on a surge of Chinese exports this year.
Trump, who will be inaugurated as US president on January 20, was swept back into the White House after pledging to apply tariffs of up to 60 per cent on Chinese goods and a blanket 20 per cent tariff on all US trading partners.
China’s exports rose 10.7 per cent in December year on year in dollar terms, Chinese customs figures showed, while imports climbed 1 per cent, beating average 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 year on year, while imports shrank 3.9 per cent.
China’s trade surplus with the US increased 6.9 per cent in 2024 compared with a year earlier to $361.03bn, Chinese customs figures showed.
Analysts at Barclays said the double-digit export growth indicated that Chinese manufacturers were “front-loading” shipments to get ahead of potential Trump tariffs.
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