China Archives - Trade Data Monitor

Trade Statistics Show Inflation

UncategorizedJune 30, 20260Comments

AI is Still Driving Trade Despite an increase in protectionism and tariffs, global trade has persisted at a steady pace thanks to a boom in sales of new technologies related to artificial intelligence. The war in the Middle East and subsequent energy crisis have only made economies more focused on restructuring in an environmentally friendly…

Is The U.S.-China Trade War Over?

UncategorizedMay 13, 20260Comments

U.S.-China Summit This Week When Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, trade, for once, won’t be the primary topic. Among more severe crises in play are the U.S. war with Iran, the rise of artificial intelligence, and China’s desire to annex Taiwan. After the Trump’s imposition of triple-digit tariffs last year, Beijing…

Vietnam’s Superpower: Versatility

UncategorizedMarch 27, 20260Comments

Vietnam’s Moment in (Trade) Time The wars in Iran and Ukraine, and trade turmoil around the world, especially involving the U.S. and China, have obscured what continues to be one of the essential trade stories of the century: Vietnam’s export growth. The Asian country of 102 million has staged an epic comeback since the 1970s…

How AI Is Driving Global Trade

UncategorizedMarch 16, 20260Comments

Lower Growth in China In early March, Chinese leadership set their lowest gross domestic product growth target since 1991, forecasting a 4.5% to 5% expansion for its economy in 2026. This week, China reported a 21.8% year-on-year increase in exports for January and February to $656.6 billion. To avoid distorted numbers because of Chinese New…

Global Trade is Moving On — Without the U.S.

UncategorizedJanuary 20, 20260Comments

One way of looking at China’s trade economy in December and for the full 2025 year is its export surge, amplified by a weak currency, deflation at home, and inflation in most of the rest of the world. China pumped up total monthly exports 6.6% to $357.8 billion in December from $335.6 billion over the…

TDM’s Top 10 Trade Trends to Watch in 2026

UncategorizedJanuary 13, 20260Comments

Happy New Year. While we wait on the Supreme Court to rule whether the Trump administration is entitled to apply tariffs on national security grounds, global trade grinds on. We at Trade Data Monitor are paying attention to what’s happening via the prism of official trade statistics. It’s a radically different world than when I started covering…

The Lessons of China’s First-Ever Trillion-Dollar Trade Surplus

UncategorizedDecember 12, 20250Comments

The Trillion-Dollar Surplus After falling year-on-year in October, China’s exports rebounded in November enough that it is almost certain that for 2025, the country that was mired in poverty when you and I were born will become the first nation ever to record a trillion-dollar trade surplus. The number is just a number, but it’s…

Silver Bullet: A Special Report on Mining and Metals Trade in Latin America

UncategorizedNovember 12, 20250Comments

Why China is Still Buying If you’re pessimistic about global trade, you’ve likely been paying too much attention to the Beijing-Washington trade spat. The headline number: In September, Chinese exports to the U.S. declined 27% year-on-year. However, even including that number, China’s monthly exports increased 8.3% year-on-year to $328.6 billion. The truth is that there…

How to Think About Tariffs

UncategorizedMay 19, 20250Comments

In the new age of trade geopolitics, the only certainty is uncertainty. What we can do at Trade Data Monitor is take an educated look at trade statistics that measure what’s leaving and entering ports, crossing oceans, and flying through the air. To be sure, the scenario is less than rosy. The World Trade Organization…

Steel Trade Trends in 2025

UncategorizedNovember 15, 20240Comments

Shake-up in Global Steel The world of steel trade is in for a shake-up. New climate rules in Europe, the prospect of ramped-up U.S. tariffs on steel and an excess of Chinese steel imports mean companies around the world must calibrate their trade strategies in 2024. With the U.S. locked in protectionism and the…

Trump Election Gooses Trade– Before Tariffs Hit

UncategorizedNovember 7, 20240Comments

This week’s election of Donald Trump as the U.S.’s 47th president is almost certainly likely to lead to another trade war with China, and further tariffs on American imports. During the campaign, Trump said his favorite word was tariff and floated a universal 10% tariff and specific duties on Chinese imports as high as 60%.…

China Reboots Trade Thanks to Africa, India, Latin America

UncategorizedMarch 11, 20240Comments

Don’t let anybody tell you that globalization is dying—at least, not yet. Global trade economists obsess over consumer demand and rising protectionism in the U.S. and Europe, but this week’s release of Chinese trade statistics shows that other markets might soon be catching up in relevance. The Promise of Other Markets China’s exports to Latin…

China Hikes Iron Ore, Copper Imports Amid Car Building Boom

UncategorizedJanuary 23, 20240Comments

In the somewhat gloomy December and annual China trade statistics released in the second week of January was buried a piece of data that hearkened back to the boom years of Chinese commodity consumption: China is buying a lot more iron ore and copper. In December, China boosted iron ore imports 11.1% year-on-year to 100.9…

The Future of EU-China Trade

UncategorizedDecember 21, 20230Comments

As European Union leaders gathered in Beijing Thursday, one of their demands for China was a more equal trading relationship. “China is the EU’s most important trading partner,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “But there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address.” Europe’s weak consumer economy is doing its part…