In 2024, China's merchandise trade surplus amounted to around 992.2 billion U.S. dollars, significantly higher than in the previous year. The merchandise trade balance is the value of exported goods minus the value of imported goods. A positive value indicates a trade surplus, while a negative value indicates a trade deficit. Trade balance and partnersIn 2024, Chinese imports of goods amounted to approximately 2.59 trillion U.S. dollars, whereas total exports added up to about 3.58 trillion U.S. dollars. In contrast, China’s invisible trade balance, an indicator measuring services and government transfers between countries, closed with a deficit and ranged at about -92 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2022. Being an economy heavily reliant on export, China ranked first among countries with the highest trade surplus, followed by Germany and Russia. The United States, with imports exceeding exports by approximately 1.15 trillion U.S. dollars that year, ranked first among leading import countries worldwide. In 2023, the value of the U.S. imports from China exceeded the exports to China by around 279.4 billion U.S. dollars. Another important trade partner for China is the European Union. In 2023, the EU imported around 514 billion euro-worth of goods from China, leading to a trade deficit of around 291 billion euros. Product categories with the highest trade deficit were mostly finished goods such as machinery and transport equipment, clothing, and other manufactures, whereas product categories with a more balanced trade sheet consisted of raw materials and agricultural products to a large extent.

In 2023, China was the country with the highest trade surplus, with approximately ****** billion U.S. dollars. The leading trade nations Typically a trade surplus indicates a sign of economic success and a trade deficit indicates an economic weakness. However, if that were true, then the top four, China, Germany, Russia and Ireland, would be considered the best performing countries in the world. However, this would mean that the United States, Great Britain, India and France would be among the weakest nations considering that they are four countries with the highest trade deficit. In fact, they are leading industrial nations. While China is known for producing and exporting products at a competitive price, it has undervalued its exchange rate in order to promote exports. However, China is now working to reduce its reliance on exports even though they continue to export large and increasing quantities of goods. In the case of Germany, the value of the euro may not be high enough, however growth concerning the value of exports has slowed over the past few years. In contrast, the value of the dollar in the United States may be too high, favoring imports as opposed to exports.

Statistics illustrates the net export value of Chemical products, mixtures and preparations; containing goods specified in Subheading Note 3 to this Chapter; containing short-chain chlorinated paraffins in Russia from 2007 to 2024 by trade partner.