China''s May trade surplus reaches $22.4 billion
14 Jun 2007
Beating forecasts, China's trade surplus reached $22.4 billion in May, a 73 per cent rise over May 2006. The figure is close to February's $23.7 billion all-time high. The May figure take the annual trade surplus to $216.7 billion, up from $207.3 billion in April.
With rising exports of low cost Chinese consumer goods, especially in the US, China's trade surplus has shot up in recent years, a source of continued tensions with the US, where politicians accuse China of keeping its currency deliberately undervalued to boost exports. (See: China warns US Congress against raising tariffs on imports)
US lawmakers have been arguing that the presence of cheaper goods in US is outweighed by the harm caused to US firms.
At current levels, the surplus could cross $320 billion, a tenfold increase on 2004 levels.
