Why is China Understating its Trade Surplus?

China is often seen as the "factory of the world," much to the concern of other economies around the world. A recent analysis even shows that China might be understating its trade surplus - and may be far bigger. But what is a trade surplus, and why is China understanding it?

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00:00 - Introduction
01:30 - What is a Trade Surplus?
05:12 - Why is China Understating Theirs?
07:45 - Sponsored Content

[BernasLL]

"Is China lying about...?"
"Yes."

[bababababababa]

This has to be an April Fools video, CCP would NEVER lie about anything right

[privacyhelp]

Ironically, the story of China collapsing is only believed by ordinary poor people. Meanwhile, the rich American CEOs and the US Treasury Secretary act differently. 😂

[bwhog]

It's not just the trade surplus itself. It's the goods being imported from China. It was one thing when it was flatware and cheap furniture. It is quite another when it is advanced electronics and companies surrendering intellectual property to have their products manufactured cheaply in China. That's basically giving away the store.

[tomshady]

Same reason they stopped publishing unemployment rate for under 35 years olds: it's catastrophically, categorically, bad.

[KomenJolokia]

"GDP figures are "man-made" and therefore unreliable."
Said by the late Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in March 2007

[chrisogden]

The real question is there anything China does not lie about

[xeanderman]

"Is China lying?"

"Is the water wet?"

[old_grey_cat]

I am not comfortable with the claim that an overall trade surplus is A Bad Thing for a nation.

Surely a national trade surplus leads to an increase in national wealth, which can be taxed and lead to national accounts being in credit. If the people choose to enjoy a moderate standard of living - pursuing prosperity without unnecessary consumption, fair wages, buying local products, and fighting planned obsolescence - they can have stored personal wealth. All of this is a buffer when a global pandemic or other widespread disaster hits.

[GeminiTwinsofLove]

This change has to do with the trade relations between Russia and China. That explains the timing and motives, for both countries, to me.

[thepax]

Maybe its just a habit at this point? 🤔

[Cobra-King]

China is Lying?



Oh The Horrors, the Pain, the Disgrace XD

[jmanakajosh]

This was a beautiful and susinct explanation, thank you!
Trade surpluses are always hard to explain to people!

[DesertPunk-USA]

Well this is gonna be interesting but not surprising from China.

[markdowding]

I wonder if a large part of this extra surplus comes from the increase in trade with Russia. Ever since the Ukraine invasion and subsequent Western sanctions Russian companies have become even more reliant on China, especially for manufactured goods and high tech like microchips. I am not saying all this extra surplus comes from that but it would partially help explain why China has not been publishing its true numbers

[heavenbright]

Cbina is massively understating its GDP, growth rate, military spending, and trade surplus

[Phantom-mgcg]

3:23 As a German I have to say, I prefer importing Italian food by a lot.

[anthonyhelms]

And ringing the beEll 😂 love the content but the accent still kills me

[passby]

If US didn't ban things that China actually wants such as CPUs and gpus then the trade balance should have been much better...

[Fire-cise]

China is understating trade surplus but are exaggerating gdp . Something about this seems contradictory . Only one can be true