China announced on Tuesday that it had surpassed the $1 trillion mark in its trade surplus for the year, as of October, driven by a jump in exports to the European Union and the United States.
In the first ten months of the year, China’s trade surplus with the EU rose by 28.6% to $310.67 billion, that is more than a billion dollars per day, despite the Twenty-Seven’s efforts to counter this trend.
Foreign trade continues to act as a propulsion for the Chinese economy, notably thanks to the surge in demand for products related to artificial intelligence and in the electric vehicle sector.
The $1 trillion trade surplus mark had only been reached in November of last year, which ended with a record of $1.2 trillion.
For October alone, Chinese exports rose by 35.2% year-on-year to $412.3 billion.
Imports also climbed sharply, by 41.6% year-on-year to $307.1 billion, but this did not prevent the widening of the deficit.
Among exports, $54.58 billion went to the European Union in October, up 24.4%, for a Chinese monthly surplus of $33.4 billion.
The EU regularly points to an “unsustainable” trade deficit with Beijing and accuses China of resorting to unfair practices. The two sides nonetheless reached last month an agreement on automotives, a key sector in Europe, aimed at limiting Chinese hybrid-vehicle exports.
Chinese exports to the United States also jumped in October, by 32.9% to $46.4 billion, despite the context of a tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
He is due to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the margins of the APEC summit (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) to be held on November 18-19 in Shenzhen, in southern China. A trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is also envisaged.
These spectacular results in China’s foreign trade stand in sharp contrast with the persistent weakness of the domestic market.
The Asian giant continues to struggle to regain its pre-pandemic domestic dynamism. It faces disinflationary pressures, weak household spending, production surpluses, and a severe real estate crisis.
A situation that weighs on the country’s performance: despite record exports, Beijing aims for growth of between 4.5% and 5% in 2026, its official target the lowest in decades.
In the third quarter, year-on-year growth stood at 4.5%, slightly up from the second quarter (4.3%).
