China announces record trade surplus despite Trump tariffs

China announced record export numbers for 2025, a year when US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade policy caused turmoil in the global economy.

Beijing on Wednesday reported the world’s largest-ever trade surplus – the value of goods and services sold overseas compared to its imports – at $1.19tn (£890bn).

It’s the first time China’s full-year trade surplus has passed $1tn, beating 2024’s record figure of $993bn.

China’s monthly export surpluses passed $100bn seven times last year – a sign that Trump’s tariff campaign have barely affected its overall trade with the rest of the world.

Trade with the US did weaken, but this was made up for by a rise in Chinese exports elsewhere, especially to South East Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Wang Jun, the deputy director of China’s customs, said during a press conference on Wednesday that the figures are “extraordinary and hard-won” given the “profound changes” and challenges in global trade.

He noted a rise in exports of green technology, artificial intelligence-related products and robotics.

The huge surplus can be explained by strong overseas demand for Chinese goods as trade with global partners including South Asian countries and others in Africa and Europe grew, as well as a weak domestic market.

China’s economy has been weighed by a property crisis and rising debt, which has made businesses more hesitant to invest and consumers cautious about spending.

As a result, there is less of a need to import goods, and imports rose by just 0.5%, according to the new figures.

Meanwhile, a weaker yuan, a strong supply of goods and inflation in Western countries have also made Chinese exports more attractive.

The results are a “mixed blessing” for Beijing, said trade policy analyst Deborah Elms from the Hinrich Foundation.

China has benefited from sales and more jobs created from its business abroad, but its goods could face “greater scrutiny” from foreign markets that are under pressure to compete with its products, she said.

China’s success will likely continue in 2026 as Chinese goods and services become more deeply entrenched into global businesses, said Elms.

These latest figures will be seen in Beijing as a sign that China has customers all around the world, besides the US, but Wang warned that China faces an uncertain external environment.

Several countries have raised concerns that their markets are being flooded with low-priced Chinese products they cannot compete with.

Businesses are also bracing for another year of turbulence and tariff tensions from the Trump administration.

In April last year, Trump caused turmoil in the global economy by announcing sweeping tariffs on goods from more than 90 countries. Some of the most severe tariffs were reserved for China, which exports more to the US than any other country.

An escalating war of words between the world’s two largest economies saw threats of blanket triple-digit tariffs.

At the time, trade experts saw this as a test of China’s reliance on the US market, which Beijing insisted was just one of many places that Chinese businesses could sell to.

Both sides managed to pause hostilities after a meeting between Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping in South Korea in October, avoiding a complete breakdown in trade relations.

Other more moderate tariffs remain in place, which have severely dampened Chinese exports to the US.