Lana

In an annual report, the IMF called out China's current trade surplus, the gap between how much it earns from exports and what it spends on imports.

No wonder, that figure was worth 3.7% of the country's economy last year, far above the expected 1.5%.

That means China's relying too much on international demand, and not enough on spending at home.

There are two key factors making it especially easy for Chinese companies to sell stuff abroad right now.

One, according to IMF estimates, China's yuan is undervalued by about 16 percent, and a cheaper currency makes a country's goods look more attractive to foreign buyers.

Two, the fund calculated that the Chinese government's industrial subsidies are worth around 4% of the country's economy, more than double Europe's standard.

And that support lets manufacturers pump out even more for less, helping them undercut foreign rivals.

All in all, China's government debt now equals 127 percent the size of its economy, and that figure could hit 135 percent this year, an even heavier load than America's famously sky-high one.

Industrials aside, the Chinese government is backing homegrown AI firms.

It's set up an $8.4 billion national fund for that exact purpose, using things like energy vouchers to lower company costs.

The support helps those firms go toe-to-toe with American ones on both performance and price.

It's the very same kind of backing that once helped Chinese telecom groups like Huawei scale globally and put Western rivals on the back foot.

That's it for today.

I'm Lana.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Hey, I'm Lana with your Daily Brief for Thursday, February 19th.

Coming up... Berkshire Hathaway made some uncharacteristic cuts last quarter, but the conglomerate picked up the New York Times.

And UK inflation landed at its lowest in 10 months.

And traders see a trim coming.

We'll also check in with Carl to get his answers to your burning questions.