China’s trade surplus with the US narrowed last year as the world’s two biggest economies exchanged punitive tariffs in a bruising trade dispute, data showed yesterday, just as the two prepare to sign a deal that would dial down tensions.
The huge difference in trade traffic is a key bone of contention for US President Donald Trump in a long-running stand-off that has seen him impose tariffs on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars, triggering retaliation from Beijing and jolting the global economy.
China’s surplus last year came in at about US$295.8 billion, down 8.5 percent from 2018’s record US$323.3 billion, customs data showed.
Photo: AFP
China’s surplus with the US last month was about US$23.2 billion, from US$24.6 billion in November.
Since November and last month, Chinese imports from the US, including soybeans and pork, have picked up, Chinese Deputy Customs Commissioner-General Zou Zhiwu (鄒志武) said yesterday.
The increased imports from the US would not affect China’s purchases from other countries, he said.
The trade tensions had “put some pressure on China’s foreign trade and firms that largely trade with the US,” Zou added.
“Although our exports to the US have declined, the effectiveness of enterprises diversifying their markets has been significant,” he said, adding that exports to non-US markets have risen and overall exports are still rising.
The signing of the new trade deal, which is part of a planned wider pact, would have an “important and positive significance” not just for China and the US, but also the rest of the world, Zou said.
China’s foreign trade volume last year fell slightly year-on-year, and its surplus with the world stood at US$421.5 billion.
China’s exports last month rose 7.6 percent year-on-year, continuing growth from July last year and surpassing the 2.9 percent forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Imports surged 16.3 percent, far exceeding estimates.
For the whole of last year, China’s exports rose 0.5 percent, while imports fell 2.8 percent.
Meat imports spiked over the past 12 months, as officials brought in 1.9 million tonnes of pork — a 75 percent increase from the year before, while beef imports rose 60 percent.
The huge jumps come as the country’s pork supply is hammered by an outbreak of African swine fever that has wiped out about 40 percent of the national pig herd.
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