Stuart Clarkson

tariffs and a trade war, but China defies the odds.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Stuart Clarkson.

Good morning.

China's announced record export numbers and the biggest ever trade surplus in global history, $1.2 trillion.

So the impact of tariffs from the US seems to have pushed Beijing to do its business elsewhere with positive results.

The BBC's Nick Marsh is with us on Marketplace to delve into this a bit more now.

Hello, Nick.

Hi.

So a record surplus despite President Trump's attempts to stop some trade with China.

How have they managed this?

One of those other countries China's hoping to increase trade with is Canada.

Mark Carney's arrived in Beijing for a three-day visit, the first by a Canadian Prime Minister in nine years.

He'll hold one-on-one talks with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

Let's do the numbers now.

The values of gold, silver, copper and tin have all hit record highs.

Silver went above $90 an ounce for the first time today.

It's now up 27% in the first two weeks of the year.

And oil giant BP says it expects to book up to $5 billion in write-downs across its gas and low-carbon energy division.

It's also warned about a weaker performance from oil trading in the final quarter of 2025.