China's economic wins: Largest-ever trade surplus of $1.2 trillion, consolidation of top automaker status
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "China's economic wins: Largest-ever trade surplus of $1.2 trillion, consolidation of top automaker status")
Chinese President Xi Jinping and a BYD showroom are shown in this image Photograph: (Others)
China has made history with a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus in 2025. It also retained and improved its position as the world’s top automaker. Both these feats were achieved amid headwinds of tariffs and trade wars with the US. Just how did China manage this?
Amid global conflicts and turbulence, China quietly managed to achieve two records in 2025: a historic trade surplus nearing $1.2 trillion, and improved status as the world’s top automaker by both production and sales volume. The overall trade volume reached nearly $6.48–6.51 trillion, aided by manufacturing strength and strategic diversification of markets. These economic milestones indicate that China continues to dominate global production, even as it adapts its exports to changing market conditions caused by conflicts and trade wars. These feats were achieved in a tense environment that also involves its rivalries with the West over Taiwan and the South China Sea. Here is how China fared in 2025, based on the latest official data.
China posts largest annual trade surplus in its history
The Asian giant showed resilience in manufacturing and exports amid various challenges, including the tariff war unleashed by US President Donald Trump. It posted a record trade surplus of $1.189 trillion for the full year 2025, showed data from the country’s General Administration of Customs on Wednesday (Jan 14). This is the first time that the annual surplus exceeded $1 trillion, and breaks the previous record of around $992–993 billion in 2024 by about 20 per cent. China’s exports totalled around $3.77 trillion, up 5.5 per cent on year, while imports remained relatively flat at around $2.58 trillion.
The surplus had crossed the $1 trillion mark by November 2025 already, and widened further in December, with the final month of 2025 alone showing a surplus of $114.14 billion. December saw exports grow 6.6 per cent year on year, while imports were also up 5.7 per cent year on year.
Chinese exporters pivoted aggressively to non-US markets
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Trade ressures mainly from the US led Chinese exporters to aggressively seek out new markets in the European Union, ASEAN countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. A surge in exports to these regions helped offset declines in shipments to the US. China managed to post monthly trade surpluses exceeding $100 billion at least seven times in 2025, compared to just once in 2024.
China retains and improves top automaker status on the back of electric vehicles
This is the 17th straight year in which China ranked top in global auto production and sales. China has held the status of the world’s top auto exporter since 2023. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) data, vehicle production in China reached 34.53 million units in 2025, a growth of 10.4 per cent year on year. Vehicle sales hit 34.4 million units, up 9.4 per cent year on year. These figures are also new records.
How is China retaining its top automaker position?
The bulk of the growth came from new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. More than 16 million such units were manufactured and sold in 2025, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the total market. Projections by outlets such as Nikkei Asia showed that Chinese vehicle brands like BYD overtook Japanese rivals in global sales for the first time in 2025, selling around 27 million units worldwide, a 17 per cent annual growth, compared with Japan’s 25 million.
Chinese vehicles, particularly EVs, were competitively priced and marketed abroad aggressively.
BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s largest seller of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), selling more than 2.25 million units in 2025, an annual growth of nearly 28 per cent. Tesla, meanwhile, sold around 1.64 million units.
