Beijing rebukes the statement; France, Indonesia cite domestic industry harm
The Group of 20 issued a statement this week implicitly criticizing Beijing for its overreliance on exports for growth, according to a Wall Street Journal report by Jon Emont. The communiqué did not name China directly but criticized governments for leaning too heavily on exports to sustain growth.
The statement came as China’s external accounts reached record levels. The country posted a $1.2 trillion trade surplus last year, with exports rising 5.5% from 2024, the Journal reported. Countries worry their domestic industries making autos, electronics and heavy machinery won’t survive China’s push to export its way out of domestic economic troubles, the Journal reported, and more countries say they agree with the United States.
A February report from the French government warned that China’s export surge threatens the “very core of Europe’s productive system.” In Indonesia, government officials said a flood of Chinese imports is hurting domestic industry, the Journal reported.
Beijing rebuked the G-20 statement. China’s Ministry of Commerce said earlier this year that it opposed “hyping the so-called excess capacity of China” and attributed growth in exports to the country’s economies of scale.
The United States has imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese goods to slow the flow, but other countries have not followed suit — and many have their own disputes with Washington. Analysts told the Journal it is too soon to tell whether the G-20 statement will lead to more global coordination.
“Who wants to invest in something that, by the time you build it, the demand is down?” John Auers, marketing director of refined fuels at Novi Labs, told the Journal.