The Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai. China’s manufactured goods surplus relative to global GDP is now around 30%, about as large as the US’s was after World War II.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergXi’s Solution for China’s Economy Risks Triggering New Trade War
China’s shift toward high-value add manufacturing threatens to further raise trade tensions with the US, Europe and others.
As China’s property sector declines, President Xi Jinping needs to reshape the nation’s economic model to drive growth over the next decade. His government’s solution risks igniting a new wave of trade tensions across the globe.
China’s leaders are pouring money into manufacturing as property-related activity, which once spurred about a fifth of the economy’s expansion, turned into a drag on growth in 2022. Part of that focus is what they call the “new three” growth drivers of electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy, aiding the world’s de-carbonization push and fueling demand for commodities such as copper and lithium.