Keith Bradsher

Since 1991, yes.

Thank you.

These tariffs are changing China's trade in important ways, but not nearly as much as the Trump administration expected.

Yes, China's not shipping as much to the United States as it was before.

But China's also not buying as much from the United States as it was before.

The overall trade surplus of China, how much its exports exceed, how much it's buying from the rest of the world, is still growing.

It became even more immense last year when it reached $1.2 trillion.

1.2 trillion is bigger than the economies of most of the countries in the world.

And what was particularly striking about it was that the trade surplus for China in manufactured goods, which create a lot of jobs, a lot of high-skilled, well-paid jobs, that trade surplus was even bigger.

China's truly become the factory of the world, the dominant producer of everything from basic materials like steel and chemicals,

all the way through electric cars and solar panels.

There are four reasons.

One, China ramped up its sales in a hurry to other markets, not just in Asia, but in Africa, Latin America, and in Europe.

Second, China ramped up sales of goods that are indirectly reaching the United States, like exporting the parts of a vacuum cleaner or some other system that then gets assembled in another country and then shipped into the United States.

So a lot of indirect shipments to the United States through other countries.

Third, China has managed to weaken its currency a lot.

That makes China's goods much cheaper in foreign markets, and it makes foreign goods, like American goods or European goods, very expensive in China.

But the last reason, and in some ways the most important reason, why China is producing such enormous trade surpluses is that it is years ahead right now in advanced manufacturing.

Pretty much anything can be made less expensively in China than anywhere else.

They're not just the least expensive place to make clothing or furniture.