China’s trade surplus tops $1 trillion despite plunge in U.S.-bound exports

China’s towering annual trade surplus surpassed $1 trillion for the first time last month, data showed Monday, as a sharp drop in shipments to the United States was offset by surging exports to other major markets.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump reached a tentative truce to their fierce trade war when they met in late October, agreeing a pause to painful measures that included lofty tit-for-tat tariffs.

Exports have served as a key economic lifeline for China as trade and relations with the United States and others have fluctuated in recent years.