Recent remarks by U.S. officials accusing China of flooding global markets with exports and calling for a “rebalancing” of its economy are nothing new.
The arguments had been recycled for years, rooted more in political posturing than sound economic reasoning.
Such claims ignored the significant transformations taking place as China advanced toward high-quality and sustainable economic development.
The notion of “rebalancing” is, in essence, a reflection of Cold War-era thinking, zero-sum logic that sought to frame economic discourse in adversarial terms.
In reality, domestic consumption had become the main driver of China’s economic growth.
In the first half of 2025, internal demand contributed 68.8 per cent to GDP growth, with consumption alone accounting for more than half.
This marks a notable shift from previous years.
In 2024, consumption contributed 44.5 per cent to GDP growth, surpassing both net exports 30.3 per cent and investment 25.2 per cent to become the primary engine of expansion.
Meanwhile, China’s trade structure continued to upgrade. In the first half of 2025, total goods trade rose by 6.1 per cent year-on-year.
General trade, which featured longer value chains and higher value-added goods, accounted for 65 per cent of total imports and exports.
Mechanical and electrical products made up about 60 per cent of China’s exports, including strong growth in high-tech sectors like electric vehicles, industrial robots, and integrated circuits.
“In spite of global uncertainties and a sluggish global recovery, China remains a key destination for foreign investment.
“More than 30,000 new foreign-invested enterprises were established in China in the first half of 2025, an 11.7 per cent increase year-on-year.
“Notably, investment is shifting toward high-tech sectors, with major inflows into e-commerce services, pharmaceutical manufacturing, aerospace, and medical equipment.”
Blaming China for America’s trade imbalance oversimplifies the issue and misrepresented global trade dynamics.
Many of the goods exported from China to the U.S. are produced using components imported from third countries, or are manufactured by American companies operating in China.
These products are counted as Chinese exports, but the profits often return to U.S. firms.
In fact, American multinationals frequently earn more abroad than at home, benefiting significantly from globalisation.
Yet traditional trade statistics fail to capture this reality, overstating the U.S. trade deficit and masking who truly benefits, mostly wealthy shareholders, not average Americans.
It is deeply ironic that U.S. officials decry others’ economic imbalances while overlooking the severe structural imbalances at home, challenges that not only threaten the American public but also pose risks to the global economy.
One such imbalance is the U.S. model of “high consumption, low savings.” Personal savings rates have declined for decades, and today’s households are burdened by rising living costs and growing debt.
Public finances fare no better: the U.S. posted a 1.8 trillion dollars deficit in fiscal 2024 and a 1.3 trillion dollars shortfall in the first half of fiscal 2025, levels rarely seen outside of crisis periods.
America’s debt-fueled growth model has only deepened these issues.
Since the 1980s, when the U.S. shifted from being a net creditor to a net debtor, national debt has exploded, from 3.2 trillion dollars in 1990 to nearly 37 trillion dollars today.
Alarmingly, interest payments on this debt now exceed annual defense spending.
Perhaps the most telling structural issue is the financialisation of the U.S. economy. Since the 1970s, the U.S. has steadily deindustrialised, pivoting from manufacturing toward finance.
Loosely regulated markets had fueled the expansion of virtual capital, while the real economy, especially manufacturing, had been hollowed out.
This had undermined long-term competitiveness and worsened trade imbalances.
In this context, accusations that China’s economy was “unbalanced” rang hollow.
They reflected a political narrative rather than an economic reality. Time and again, these claims have failed the test of facts.
History will show that vilifying others cannot stop China’s progress. Rhetoric cannot obscure truth forever.