China’s US trade surplus hit record in 2018 but tariffs bite

Beijing: China's trade surplus with the United States hit a record high last year but the country´s imports and exports fell in December as the long-running trade war begins to bite in the world's number two economy, data showed Monday.

The surplus with the US is a major source of anger within the Trump administration, which imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods last year and has warned of more to come.

Despite the levies, exports to the United States grew 11.3 percent last year while imports rose 0.7 percent, expanding the surplus to a record $323.3 billion from $275.8 billion in 2017, customs data show.

However, in a sign that the White House´s measures are having an impact, China´s exports to the US sank last month.

The figures come after a US delegation held three days of talks in Beijing last week in the first face-to-face meeting since Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in December pledged a 90-day truce to resolve the crisis.

Trump wants Beijing to buy more American goods to narrow the yawning trade gap and allow foreign players better access and protection in the Chinese market. China traditionally imports vast quantities of American soybeans in the second half of the year, long making it the most valuable import from the US.

But the buying fell off last year after China imposed a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on the commodity in the summer. Total imports of soybeans fell 7.9 percent last year to 88 million tonnes, customs data showed, with December imports down 40.1 percent from a year earlier. "The overall development of China-US trade in 2018 was still relatively normal, but the trade surplus did expand slightly," said Li Kuiwen, spokesman for the customs administration.