ASEAN rises to be China's 2nd biggest trading partner

BEIJING -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has overtaken the United States to become China's second largest trading partner in 2019, official data showed Tuesday.

China's trade volume with ASEAN climbed 14.1 percent to 4.43 trillion yuan (about $642.7 billion) last year, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed.

The European Union remained China's biggest trading partner with an 8-percent year-on-year growth to 4.86 trillion yuan in bilateral trade, while the United States ranked third with a 10.7-percent fall over 2018 to 3.73 trillion yuan, GAC data showed.

Trade between China and its fourth largest trading partner Japan edged up 0.4 percent to 2.17 trillion yuan.

China's trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative continued to gain momentum, rising 10.8 percent to 9.27 trillion yuan in total.

China saw its foreign trade increase 3.4 percent to 31.54 trillion yuan in 2019.