China’s trade surplus hit record $1.2 trillion in 2025

January 14, 2026 7:58 am

Last year’s bruising trade war between Washington and Beijing, which at one point saw reciprocal tariffs in the triple digits, led to a 20 per cent plunge year-on-year in China’s exports to the United States, with imports falling 14.6 per cent.

But other trade partners more than filled the gap, increasing Chinese exports overall by 5.5 per cent in 2025, while imports stayed flat in dollar terms.

Exports to the European Union were also up 8.4 per cent, but imports from the bloc dipped.

Roiling trade tensions between the EU and China showed signs of easing on Monday when Brussels said Chinese electric vehicle makers could offer price undertakings — which set minimum prices for exporters — which would replace tariffs.

Beijing welcomed the move.

Otherwise, we would have imported even more.”

December’s figures showed strong growth, with exports up 6.6 per cent and imports jumping 5.7 per cent year-on-year.

“We expect this resilience to continue through 2026,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, in a note.

“One risk to the export outlook is that the trade truce with the US doesn’t last. Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on countries doing business with Iran underscores the potential for renewed trade tensions,” Huang said.