China reports record trade surplus with US and exports growth on eve of tariffs
June’s trade surplus was US$28.9 billion on the back of a 12.6 per cent rise in China’s exports to the United States
China’s trade surplus with the United States reached a record high in June as the two countries sought and failed to prevent the start of their tit-for-tat tariff dispute.
The surplus amounted to US$28.9 billion last month – a record monthly figure since the data became available in 1999, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs on Friday.
China’s exports to the US rose 12.6 per cent in June compared with a year earlier, to US$42.6 billion, while Chinese imports of US products rose by 9.6 per cent to US$13.7 billion, the administration said.
In the January-June period, China’s exports to the US rose 13.6 per cent year on year to US$217.7 billion, while imports increased 11.8 per cent to US$84 billion, according to the Chinese customs data.
The US$133.7 billion trade surplus with the US for that period was just shy of the China’s total US$140 billion trade surplus in the first half.
The US was China’s biggest export market and the second-largest trading partner after the European Union in the first six months.