India, Dec. 9 -- The Chinese growth story has always been recognised as an export-led one. It started decades ago. But what is now becoming starker by the day is the scale of Chinese export dominance, even though its growth is a somewhat pale shadow of what it used to be.

China's January-November 2025 merchandise trade surplus crossing the $1 trillion threshold - no country has ever achieved this - is yet another reminder of its export prowess. That this feat was achieved in a year when Donald Trump tried to fight a trade war with China and initially imposed triple-digit tariffs on it, only proves Chinese resilience even further. There is good reason to believe that the US has also allowed Chinese imports to be redirected via other count...