Foreign Ministry responds to US Treasury Secretary's questioning of 'trade surplus'

The Chinese side has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus and opposes various forms of unilateral tariff measures. In response to the erroneous remarks made by the US side on the issue of China's trade surplus, which incited other members of the G20 to re-examine its trade terms with China, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun reiterated China's solemn position on August 31.

According to Reuters, on August 30th local time, US Treasury Secretary Besson stated that he will urge other G20 members to re-examine trade terms with China in order to alleviate the so-called global trade imbalance.

On the eve of the G20 finance ministers' meeting, Besent said in an interview with Reuters that although the trade situation between the United States and China is "rapidly improving", the current trend of China's export growth is "unsustainable". He declared that 'the world cannot allow China to have a trade surplus of $1.2 trillion'.

According to reports, the United States has blocked a large number of Chinese goods from the US market through high tariffs and comprehensive bans on some products, including automobiles. Besent claimed that he warned other developed economies last year that they would face pressure from the surge in Chinese imports, and "now they are facing some very serious choices". He further stated, "Other countries in the world will have to examine their trade terms with China

Regarding Besent's erroneous remarks, Guo Jiakun stated on August 31st in response to a reporter's question that the essence of China US economic and trade relations is mutual benefit and win-win. China has never deliberately pursued trade surplus and opposes various forms of unilateral tariff measures. "We adhere to high-level opening up to the outside world and provide new opportunities for all parties, including the United States, through the Chinese market.

In fact, China has repeatedly responded to the international discourse of so-called "trade imbalance" and "overcapacity" in China. On July 28th, the Ministry of Commerce issued a document titled "China's Position on the Issue of so-called 'overcapacity'", stating that China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus. China's export growth is driven not only by economies of scale and improved innovation capabilities, but also by the demand for green transformation and industrial development in various countries. For example, China's export growth to Europe is mainly concentrated in photovoltaics, new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and chemical products, reflecting the demand for energy products driven by green transformation, as well as the energy crisis that has raised production costs in European chemical and other industries.

The document points out that from the perspective of trade benefit distribution, 'the surplus is in China, and the benefits are in all parties'. In 2025, foreign-funded enterprises will account for 27% of China's exports and 16% of its surplus, with both surplus and profit growth rates faster than local enterprises. From the perspective of the overall balance of payments, although China has a significant surplus in goods trade, there are deficits in service trade and investment income. Overall, the current account surplus accounts for about 3.7% of GDP, which is within the internationally recognized reasonable range.

On August 31st, Zhou Wei, a researcher at the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, told a reporter from the Global Times that the remarks made by the US side have no factual basis and are nothing more than repeating the same old tune. Their true intention is to use multilateral mechanisms such as the G20 to engage in factional confrontation and pressure on China. In fact, the root cause of the current international trade imbalance lies in the serious impact of trade protectionism on the global order. Unilateral restrictions hinder the rational allocation of resources according to market rules and trigger a drastic restructuring of the global supply chain.

Xi Jinping believes that as a stable economy that continues to expand its openness, China has always shared development opportunities with other countries and gained universal trust from the international community. China's high-quality export supply also creates favorable conditions for countries to achieve their own development goals. China never avoids objective issues in trade, nor does it accept any malicious slander or blame shifting. Zhou Wei stated that cooperation between China and the United States benefits both parties, while confrontation harms both. The essence of the economic and trade relationship between the two countries is mutual benefit and win-win rather than a zero sum game. We hope that the US side will abandon unilateralism and promptly correct the mistake of trade protectionism.

It is worth noting that while sensationalizing the so-called China trade surplus issue, Besent stated that US and Chinese officials will advance dialogue on possible tariff reductions on non strategic goods and artificial intelligence regulatory frameworks before the G20 finance ministers' meeting. Besent stated that these regulatory frameworks aim to prevent powerful artificial intelligence models from falling into the hands of non-state actors. He said, "I believe that both sides have about $30 billion worth of non strategic and non critical goods that can be eliminated from tariffs