The United States and China recently signed Phase I of a trade deal designed to thaw relations between the world’s two largest economies. The ongoing trade war between these two countries led to an overall slowdown of global growth in 2019, with continued weakness in global trade and investment. Despite this, China has maintained a positive trade balance overall and continues to be a major exporter to countries around the world. Our new series of visualizations maps out the relationship between China and its biggest trading partners.
The data for these visualizations comes from the International Monetary Fund, with all values expressed in U.S. dollars. Here is the breakdown of exports, imports, and trade balance between China and other countries around the world.
- Between imports and exports, China is involved in $4.6 trillion worth of trade worldwide.
- China has a trade balance of $367 billion, which means that its overall exports are higher than its imports.
- Since 1989, China’s economy has roughly doubled every eight to ten years, surpassing the growth rates of the U.S., Europe, and most high income countries during the same time period.
- Although the U.S. dominated most of world trade in 1980, China has gradually taken on a greater role, surpassing the U.S. as the major trading partner in many countries around the world.
In total, China exports $2.5 trillion worth of goods to other countries. For the countries in the visualization above, China has exported more than $1 billion in goods. The size and the color of each country on the map show at first glance which ones are the biggest recipients of Chinese exports. Countries that are larger and a deeper shade of turquoise have a higher value of exports.
Top Countries Where China Exports the Most
1. United States: $481 billion
2. Hong Kong: $304 billion
3. Japan: $148 billion
4. South Korea: $110 billion
5. Vietnam: $84 billion
Even with the ongoing trade war since 2018, the U.S. remains China’s top destination for exports. The most common goods that China exports to the U.S. tend to be electronic devices, such as cell phones. The U.S. is the only country on the top five list that is not located in East Asia.
