In 2025, China’s trade performance reached new heights. Exports jumped the most on record and imports bounced back at the fastest pace on record, leaving a series-high trade surplus in its wake. The nation’s exports grew by 6.6% year-on-year in December, a rise from November’s 5.9%. For the year as a whole, year-on-year growth of China’s exports was 5.5%, just below the 5.9% rise recorded in 2024.
This includes strong a December for imports, which were up 5.7% over December 2022. This jump represents a complete reversal from November’s anemic 1.9% increase. Owing to the above-mentioned month-on-month growth, China annual import figures for 2025 finished level at 0.0% YoY. These trends together combined to give Oregon a record trade surplus. It increased by 19.9% year on year, setting new record highs that could match the GDP of one of the world’s top 20 economies.
Strong Export Performance
China’s exports proved surprisingly resilient all year, thanks to strong global demand for China’s key commodities. That’s in comparison to an extraordinary 6.6% boost in December. This increase came after a month of consistent gains while revealing the country’s competitive prowess in the international marketplace.
Semiconductors, ships and automobiles drove this growth. They did so with exceptional increases of 26.8%, 26.7%, and 21.4%, respectively. This trend, which shows that China is continuing to step up the value-added product ladder, underscores and affirms China’s progress and leadership in the global supply chain.
Exports to other ASEAN nations increased by 13.4%, while the European Union had the third highest increase of all areas at 8.4%. The only other major trading partner with decreasing year-on-year exports was South Korea, down 1.1%. At the same time, Japan enjoyed a healthy growth rate of 3.5%. Exports to the United States tanked, dropping a staggering 20% y-o-y, primarily due to continuing trade tensions.
Import Dynamics and Concentration in Technology
As China’s exports prospered, imports showed a more complicated picture in 2025. Even with December’s 5.7% jump, the year ended flat overall for import figures—a promising month-to-month rebound in a depressed multi-year trend. In particular, high-tech imports increased by 9.3% YoY, reflecting China’s focus on developing its high-end tech capabilities.
Automatic data processing equipment had the most significant effect on the import numbers, increasing 18.2%. Semiconductors made a big impact, jumping up 10.1%. Such impressive performances in technology-related imports highlight China’s strategic emphasis on sharpening its competitive edge in the face of global technological changes.
Looking at top importing country sources geographically, China experienced large value increases from all registered countries in 2025. In the case of Indonesia, imports shot up by a stunning 15.6%. Singapore was a close second with a 14.7% increase, with India and the Netherlands increasing 9.7% and 8.8% respectively. Imports from the United States had a particularly hard time. They plummeted by 14.6% YOY, mainly owing to the continuing U.S.-China trade war.
Implications for China’s Economy
China recorded an extraordinary trade surplus in 2025. This success is indicative of not only the country’s export strength, but of its changing economic structure. The surplus increased dramatically, revealing just how well China’s economy is benefiting from its booming trade surplus. This is all against the backdrop of the pervading difficulty of navigating complex international relations.
This dramatic change in the trade balance has important ramifications both within the Chinese economy and in terms of Beijing’s position on the world stage. This means that China is indeed climbing the value-added ladder with its exports. This action adds to its competitiveness on the global stage. This gap-to-goal transition helps advance the nation’s imperative to regain leadership over advanced, high-tech industries. It seeks to lessen our reliance on lower-value, domestically-concentrated manufacturing.