Chinese customs data suggest the country is running a trade surplus that’s much bigger than the one reported in its balance of payments, and Beijing should clarify why the numbers are different, the US Treasury said. The surplus according to the customs figures was almost $230 billion bigger in 2023 than the one reported by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the Treasury said in its semiannual foreign-exchange report on Thursday. The average gap between the two datasets since 2000 has been just $7 billion, it said. The growing discrepancy has drawn attention from various economists and international ... (full story)