New Economy

China Wants to Dominate High- and Low-Tech Industries

Beijing is pulling the ladder up behind it when it comes to the market for low-tech goods.
Artificial Christmas tree branches on the production line at the Bosen Gongyi Co. factory in Yiwu, China.Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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In the 1940s, with its manufacturing at record levels thanks to World War II and much of the rest of the world suffering mass destruction, the US enjoyed gigantic trade surpluses. After all, it was the only power capable of supplying goods all over the globe.

In the next few years, China will surpass that record. That’s according to Goldman Sachs economists who see its current-account surplus reaching 1% of global GDP by 2029, “the highest level on record in any single economy, eclipsing the United States in the late 1940s.”