Reuters : China’s trade surplus surged past $1 trillion in the first 10 months as a global race to build AI infrastructure buoyed sales of high-tech products and helped offset weak domestic demand, a dynamic likely to sharpen tensions with major trading partners.
The figures highlight Beijing’s growing reliance on overseas demand to support an economy hobbled by subdued consumption and a protracted property slump. But while the global AI investment boom is expected to keep demand for Chinese technology products strong into 2027, it risks deepening domestic imbalances and fuelling trade frictions with partners including the European Union.
Exports rose sharply by 35.2% in October from the same month last year in US dollar terms, customs data showed on Tuesday, only a touch slower than the 36.3% surge in September, but ahead of economists’ forecast for an increase of 33.5%.That helped lift China’s trade surplus to $1.04 trillion in the first 10 months, topping $1 trillion for a second consecutive year and reaching the milestone a month earlier than in 2025.
The swelling surplus could fuel further tensions with the European Union, where leaders have called for more trade curbs with China after reaching an agreement with Beijing to limit Chinese exports of hybrid vehicles to the bloc over the next few years. Because the measures have yet to take effect, factories are expected to bring forward shipments, bolstering exports in the near term.
