Don’t fear China’s trillion-dollar trade surplus
It is a problem not for the rest of the world, but for China
LAST year, the gross domestic product of only 19 countries exceeded US$1 trillion. That puts the latest news from China’s customs administration into stark context.
On Dec 8, it reported that the country’s net exports of goods in the first 11 months of the year already exceeded US$1 trillion, more than any previous surplus. Even as America whacked tariffs on China, its enterprising manufacturers expanded into alternative markets and discovered roundabout routes past America’s trade barriers.
The size of the surplus is causing anxiety around the world. “The imbalances we see accumulating today are not sustainable,” said Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, on a visit to Beijing this month.
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