Mubasher: China on Monday announced that it posted last year the largest trade surplus with the US in a decade, despite the trade conflict with Washington.

China’s trade surplus with the US climbed 17% year-on-year in 2018, hitting $323.32 billion, the General Administration of Customs said.

This marked the highest trade difference on record dating back to 2006, according to Thomson Reuters.

Exports to the US surged 11.3% last year, from the previous year, while imports from the US to China rose a slight 0.7% over the reported period.

That said, the overall Chinese trade surplus was the lowest since 2013, despite the rise in exports was the largest since 2011, as shown by Reuters’ records.

China’s total trade surplus for last year amounted to $351.76 billion, as overall exports rose 9.9% from the year before, while imports climbed 15.8% over the same period.

Last December, Chinese exports dropped 4.4% year-on-year, the largest monthly decline in two years, while imports retreated 7.6%, recording the biggest monthly fall since July 2016.

As a result, the nation’s trade surplus was $57.06 billion last month, compared with $44.71 billion in November.

The customs administration expressed that its main concern in this year’s trade volume is external uncertainty and protectionism, predicting that the nation’s trade growth could lose momentum during the year.

Despite a steady growth of the world’s second biggest economy expected this year, it faces external headwinds, Reuters quoted customs spokesman Li Kuiwen as saying.

By 9:14 am GMT, the Chinese yuan (CNY) ticked up against the US dollar, trading at CNY 6.7617.