The head of the World Trade Organization on Friday called on China to change its growth model, arguing that its growing trade surplus is ultimately unsustainable and risks creating new trade barriers.
WTO chief urges China to turn trade surplusBeijing says it wants to support the multilateral trading system, “because it benefits quite a bit from it”, WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iewala told the Munich Security Conference.
However, “the export-led growth model that has driven China’s growth for the past 40 years will not drive China’s growth for the next 40 years,” said Okonjo-Iwala.
“And the $1.2 trillion trade surplus is not sustainable. Because the rest of the world can’t absorb it,” he added.
“And if China doesn’t act, we’ll see more disruption.”
China’s trade surplus reached a record $1.2 trillion last year. That was despite a sharp decline in its trade with the United States, as a fierce trade war between the world’s two largest economies reignited after President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Other trading partners filled the gap, with Chinese exports growing 5.5 percent overall in 2025, while imports were flat in dollar terms.
China’s economy is expected to expand five percent in 2025, Beijing said Monday, one of its slowest rates in decades as the world’s second-largest economy struggles with persistently low consumer spending and a debt crisis in its property sector.
In October, Trump reached a truce with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. But in January he announced that he would impose tariffs on countries that do business with Iran. China, the foremost among these countries, has warned that it will protect its interests.
Other major markets for Chinese goods, such as the European Union, are concerned by the imbalance in their trade balance with China.
Europeans worry that their markets will act as an outlet for Chinese manufacturing surpluses, urging China to stimulate its domestic consumption, which has been sluggish for years.
The WTO is hosting its ministerial conference, the biennial main gathering, in late March in Cameroon.
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