China’s annual trade surpassed 45 trillion yuan, a new historical high, with exports rising 6.1% despite a challenging global environment.
BEIJING: China’s annual trade reached a new historical high in 2025, surpassing 45 trillion yuan (USD 6.4 trillion) for the first time.
Vice Customs Minister Wang Jun announced the record figure at a press conference, highlighting resilient global demand for Chinese goods.
Exports, a traditional driver of the economy, rose 6.1% from the previous year.
Imports saw a more modest increase of 0.5%, according to official customs data.
Wang suggested that import growth could have been higher without external restrictions.
“Some country has politicised trade issues and limited high tech exports to China, if they hadn’t, we would have imported more,” he said, in a veiled reference to US tariffs.
Looking ahead, Wang stated China’s market will “open more” in 2026.
He added that it would “still be an opportunity for the world.”
The record trade volume comes despite a noted slump in exports to the United States following tariff hikes by the Trump administration.
