China’s exports returned to growth in November following an unexpected contraction the month before, although shipments to the United States dropped nearly 29% from a year earlier in an eighth straight month of double-digit declines.

China’s surplus has also been driven by a host of small-ticket items including a surge in low-value packages — the business model employed by online retailers such as Shein and Temu, which have come under fire in the US and EU for taking advantage of duty-free loopholes.

China’s “hard power” in economics, science and technology has “significantly improved”, boasted the Communist Party’s Politburo at a meeting on the same day. China’s growing technological sophistication has also contributed to the surprising resilience of its exports.

President Trump’s tariffs weren’t enough to hold back the global export flood by China, which pushed past last year’s record in just 11 months.

China’s top leaders are signaling they are on alert for a potential flareup of tensions in global commerce as they draw up economic plans for next year, after amassing a record trade surplus despite the tariff war with the US.

What does the milestone mean for global trade, and is the data all good news for China? Lizzi C. Lee, a Fellow at the Center for China Analysis, Asia Society Policy Institute, Washington DC, explains.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the deadline for China to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans from American farmers is the end of the "growing season," not the end of the calendar year.

The head of the International Monetary Fund has urged China to fix its economic imbalances, echoing longstanding calls for the world's second-largest economy to rely more on domestic spending and inve

Analysts see leadership’s language after central economic work conference as an admission that trade tensions are expected to endure.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says the yuan is 25% undervalued and will appreciate more than forwards contracts are pricing for 2026.