China’s Belt and Road Initiative is booming again

From The Economist

America is still the single biggest destination for Chinese exports of goods. Yet its share of China’s shipments has fallen sharply since trade tensions soared during Mr Trump’s first term as president, from nearly 20% in the first nine months of 2018 to less than 12% in the same period this year. The global south is taking up the slack. Year-on-year exports to ten members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) grew by 15% in September, as they did to countries in Latin America. China’s exports to Africa jumped by nearly 57%. According to S&P Global, a financial-data firm, the global south took 44% of China’s exports in 2024, up from 35% in 2015. This group of countries also accounts for more than half of China’s global trade surplus. (America’s share is 36%.)