China hits 2025 GDP target – but quarterly growth drops to 3-year low

China has confirmed that it achieved its annual growth target last year as the economy weathered an unprecedented trade war with the United States, but growth slowed to a three-year low in the final quarter, dragged down by a series of domestic headwinds.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 5 per cent from a year earlier in 2025, in line with the government target of “around 5 per cent”, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

The impressive growth came as China’s vast export sector shrugged off the impact of US tariffs to post a record goods trade surplus of US$1.19 trillion for 2025, with a decline in shipments to America more than offset by rapid growth in other markets.

Kang Yi, commissioner of the statistics bureau, said China’s economy had withstood multiple pressures to sustain a steady growth momentum in 2025. But he cautioned that changes in the external environment were intensifying and that many “long-standing problems and new challenges remain in economic development”.

“We must adopt more proactive and effective macro policies, continue to expand domestic demand, improve the supply … so as to get the 15th five-year plan period off to a good start,” Kang added.

South China Morning Post