China’s exports jumped 25% in August from a year earlier, propelled by strong demand for autos and high-tech goods, as the country’s record trade surplus widened further, according to customs data released Tuesday. The surplus expanded to $119.1 billion in August, up from $112.5 billion in July, and economists expect it to keep growing for the rest of the year.
The figures arrive just ahead of a planned meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump, expected in late September, with trade likely to be a central topic. Beijing has not yet confirmed the exact date for the visit. The data was broadly in line with what analysts had forecast.
China’s global imports climbed 28.2% in August from a year earlier, accelerating from July’s 27.5% rise, while export growth also picked up from the 23.9% pace recorded the previous month. Exports have consistently outpaced imports and are “set to lead to a new record-high trade surplus this year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING.
Policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere have raised concerns over China’s ballooning trade surplus, which surged to a record $1.2 trillion for the whole of last year. Beijing has said it is not seeking to maximize its trade surplus.
In August, China’s exports to the U.S. totaled $42.5 billion, up 34.4% year-on-year, in part due to a base effect after higher U.S. tariffs caused exports to fall last year. U.S. exports to China last month were $13.3 billion, leaving a trade surplus in China’s favor of about $29.2 billion, according to Chinese data.
Exports to the European Union rose 6.6%, while those to Southeast Asia and Latin America rose 30.2% and 17.5%, respectively. China has weathered disruptions from the Iran war better than many other countries and has been exporting more to Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, shielding it from the impact of higher U.S. tariffs.
Exports of autos in August grew 43% year-on-year, while semiconductor exports surged 129.8%, the customs data show. “China is very competitive in its tech goods exports,” said Chi Lo, a senior market strategist for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management. In recent months, rising exports of electric vehicles, industrial machinery and semiconductors have helped fuel China’s robust shipments globally.
“China has moved aggressively up the value chain and has become a major player in AI infrastructure and industrial automation,” Lo said.
At home, China is still struggling to boost its economy as consumption and investment remained sluggish following a yearslong real estate sector downturn. On Sunday, China said it was injecting around $54 billion into state banks and insurers to help lift its economy.
China’s continued reliance on exports to fuel growth prompted 19 members of the Group of 20 large economies to agree to address such economic imbalances at a recent meeting of top financial officials in Asheville, North Carolina. China was the lone dissenting G20 member after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described China’s trade surplus as a barrier to global economic growth.
The strategic stalemate between China and the U.S. will likely remain, said Lo of BNP Paribas. “Both sides hold each other hostage in some strategic products, with the U.S. withholding high-end tech goods from being sold to China and China withholding rare-earth exports to the U.S.,” he said.
China and the EU are also set to meet for ministerial-level trade talks in the fall, as the EU struggles to reduce its roughly 1 billion euros-a-day trade deficit with China. The EU implemented measures in July to protect its steel industry and has limited tax-exempt imports of Chinese e-commerce small parcels.