China’s new trade surplus record

China’s trade surplus is on track to hit a record of nearly $1 trillion. The surplus leaves China “on a collision course” with the US by exacerbating global trade imbalances, Bloomberg reported, and provoking US President-elect Donald Trump, who mainly views Beijing “through the lens of its massive bilateral trade surplus,” the Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer wrote in a note to clients.

Trump’s vow to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese exports to the US isn’t a bluff, Bremmer argued, but “whether it elicits a meaningful engagement to negotiate with the Chinese or a tit-for-tat response irrespective of the economic costs will depend on how hard and high he goes.”