China top trading partners – Is USA China’s biggest trade partner?

China top trading partners are EU, ASEAN, US, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, Russia and India. In this article, I will investigate broadly on this topic.

The economy of China overview

Today we can identify China as the second-largest economy in the world. Also, according to the predictions of economists, China will be the leader of the future world economy. Now China can be identified as an upper-middle income country and the largest manufacturing economy in the world. But in the near future, it will become a higher-income country. Also, it is the largest exporter and second-largest importer in the world market.

How has international trade affected China?

So, it is very clear that China is a major partner in the current international trade. In the year 1978, China could open its doors to international trade by becoming an open economy. Since it opened doors for international trade, the GDP growth rate has been increasing gradually. As usual, the GDP growth rate in China more than 10 percent after it opened doors for international trade.

Another important factor for increasing China’s economic growth and international trade capacity is, join the World Trade Organization. China joined the World Trade Organization in December of 2001 as the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization. In the year 2001, the trade volume of China was $516.4 billion and it has been increased up to $4.1 trillion in the year 2017. (ChinaPower Project, 2019).

Next at the beginning of the open economy of China, it implemented a higher average weighted tax rate such as 32.2 percent in the year 1992. (ChinaPower Project, 2019). Implementing higher tax rates can be identified as a major issue in international trade. So, china could reduce the tax rate by eliminating this issue. when it was the year 2017, the average weighted tax rate of China has been reduced up to 4.8 percent. (ChinaPower Project, 2019).

Because of these major factors, the international trade volume of china has been increased gradually than in other countries. In this study I wish to discuss about major international trade partners of China.

China top trading partners 2022

For the seven months (From January to July) of year 2022, the international trade volume of China was 23.6 trillion yuan ($3.49 trillion)

China export partners – 2022 July

In July 2022, China exported mostly to United States ($55B), Hong Kong ($23.7B), Japan ($15.9B), South Korea($14.3B), and Vietnam ($12.6B)

China import partners – 2022 July

China imported mostly from Taiwan ($19.7B), South Korea ($16.8B), Japan ($15.7B), Australia ($14B), and United States ($13.5B).

Following graph will clearly present the China export partners and China import partners of the July 2022.

For the year 2019, EU, ASEAN, US, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, Russia and India can be identified as the china’s top trading partners. Among them EU and ASEAN are not single countries, they are the economic integration of several countries. Trade volume with the EU was RMB 4.86 trillion, trade volume with the ASEAN was RMB4.43 trillion, trade volume with the US was RMB 3.73 trillion and trade volume with Japan was RMB 2.17 trillion.

Also, the trade relationship between China with India is very important. Because both China and India are members of the BRICS union. To see more about the internal relationship among BRICS countries, kindly click here. India is the 12th major international trade partner of China which accounts for $92.9 billion of trade volume.

So as the major three trading partners of China, I wish to discuss about the United States of America, Japan, and India.

The trade relationship between China and the USA

Is USA China’s biggest trade partner?

Yes. China’s biggest trade partner is USA.

As a single country relationship other than transact with the economic unions (such as ASEAN, European Union), the USA can be considered as the major trading partner of China.

According to the statistics of more recent data, for the July of year 2022, China totally exported goods and services to the USA with a value of $ 55 billion. But china imported only total goods and services from the USA with a value of $ 13.5 billion.

The following graph will clearly present the export and import of China with USA in July 2022

 

According to the statistics, in the year 2019, China totally exported goods and services to the USA with a value of $471.8 billion. But china imported only total goods and services from the USA with a value of $163 billion. (Ustr.gov, 2020). So, this has created a surplus of $308.8 in the goods and service account of China. (Ustr.gov, 2020). This surplus has been continued for a long period of time. In the future also we can expect that there will be a higher surplus in the goods and services account of China toward the trade between China and the USA.

On the other hand, the deficit of the goods and service account of the USA has been increased. Specially deficit in the trading account of the USA has been increased for the past years as mentioned in the following graph because of the trade with China.

Although the USA and China are major partners of each other, there is a cold political and economic war between China and the USA.

The trade relationship between China and Japan

Japan is the 4th major trading partner of China. In the year 2019, China exported to Japan goods and services with a value of $155 billion and China imported from Japan goods and services with a value of $139 billion. (OEC, 2020). International trade between China and Japan also has created a surplus for China. As an exporter, China majorly exports to Japan, electrical equipment, machinery, articles of apparel, photo equipment, medical equipment, and so on. (tradingeconomics.com, 2020). So, although Japan is well known for technical equipment and machinery, it also imports a considerable amount of technical equipment and machinery from China.

The trade relationship between China and India

India is the 12th major trading partner of China. As I mentioned the earlier, both China and India are members of the BRICS corporation. BRICS is a union of countries of which will be more powerful nations in the future world including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. As the members of BRICS, China, and India are more interested to buy member countries’ goods rather than buying from out of the world. On the other hand, India is a labor-intensive country. So, within the year 2019, China exported goods to India with a value of $74.92 and China imported goods from India with a value of $17.97 billion. So, we can see that international trade between China and India also has created a surplus for China.

According to above factors, China always maintains a surplus in its goods and service account when it engages in international trade. But its trade partners always have a deficit. This may create an issue of making China unnecessarily powerful in economically and politically. World Trade Organization and other organizations should take actions to deduce this excess power.

Reference List

ChinaPower Project. (2019). How influential is China in the WTO? | ChinaPower Project. [online] Available at: https://chinapower.csis.org/china-world-trade-organization-wto/.

english.customs.gov.cn. (2020). Review of China’s Foreign Trade in 2019. [online] Available at: http://english.customs.gov.cn/Statics/f63ad14e-b1ac-453f-941b-429be1724e80.html.

OEC (2020). OEC – China (CHN) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners. [online] oec.world. Available at: https://oec.world/en/profile/country/chn.

tradingeconomics.com. (2020). China exports to Japan – 1992-2019 Data | 2021 Forecast. [online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/china/exports/japan [Accessed 13 Jan. 2021].