China trade surplus in ’22 reached new record

BEIJING — China’s trade surplus swelled to a record $877.6 billion last year as exports rose despite weakening U.S. and European demand and antivirus controls that temporarily shut down Shanghai and other industrial centers.

Exports increased 7% from a year earlier to $3.95 trillion, decelerating from 2021’s explosive 29.9% gain, customs data showed Friday. Imports edged up 1.1% to $2.7 trillion, cooling from the previous year’s 30.1% rise as economic growth slowed and consumer spending weakened.

The country’s politically volatile global trade surplus expanded by 29.7% from 2021’s record, already the highest ever for any economy.

“China’s foreign trade and exports showed strong resilience in the face of many difficulties and challenges,” said a customs agency spokesperson, Lu Daliang, at a news conference.

Export growth slumped late in the year after the Federal Reserve and other central banks raised interest rates to cool record-setting inflation by slowing economic activity.

December exports fell for a third month, contracting by 10.1% from a year earlier to $306.1 billion. That was bigger than November’s 9% slide.

Last year’s exports to the United States edged up 1% over 2021 to $581.8 billion despite tariff hikes by President Joe Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, that still are in place on many goods. Chinese imports of American goods declined 1% to $177.6 billion. China’s annual trade surplus with the United States, one of the irritants that prompted Trump to hike tariffs, widened by 1.8% from 2021 to $404.1 billion.