China will record a record level of exports in 2024, Chinese official media reported on Monday, at a time when Donald Trump’s arrival to the White House raises fears of a return to tension in trade relations with the United States.
Exports in 2024 constituted one of the rare positive indicators for the Chinese economy, which has been suffering from weak consumption and an ongoing crisis in the real estate sector since the end of the Corona crisis.
Exports 2024
The CCTV television network announced after a press conference held by the State Council, China’s major executive body, that “the value of exports exceeded 25 trillion yuan (about 3.4 trillion dollars) for the first time, an increase of 7.1% over the previous year.”
As for imports, they rose to 18.39 trillion yuan (about 2.5 trillion dollars), an increase of 2.3% over the previous year, according to the television network.
According to Chinese customs data, the surplus rose to an unprecedented level of $992 billion in 2024, an increase of 21% over the previous year.
Overall, Chinese foreign trade recorded a growth of 5% in 2024 compared to the previous year, achieving a record level of 43.85 trillion yuan (about 6 trillion dollars), according to CCTV.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to significantly increase tariffs on Chinese exports after his inauguration on January 20, which threatens to have a severe impact on the Chinese economy’s foreign trade.
December 2024 performance
During the month of last December, customs data showed, on Monday, that outbound shipments increased by 10.7% on an annual basis, which exceeds analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 7.3% increase in exports, and also represents an improvement compared to the 6.7% growth in exports in November. November.
Imports surprised the markets by registering 1% growth, the strongest performance since July 2024, and economists had expected imports to decline by 1.5%.
China’s trade surplus increased to $104.8 billion last month, up from $97.4 billion in November.
China’s trade surplus with the United States also increased to $33.5 billion in December from $29.81 billion the previous month.
Analysts said that Chinese manufacturing companies, supported by the decline in the yuan, were able to find buyers abroad in 2024 to compensate for low domestic demand by continuously reducing prices.
