Spain is increasingly dependent on China's industrial production, and in 2025, it sets a new record amidst tension and uncertainty in global trade.
Spain's trade deficit with China exceeded 10,000 million in the first quarter, rising by 22%, according to the official data released this Monday by the State Secretariat for Trade. It amounts to 10,093 million, the worst trade balance in the first quarter ever recorded by Spain with China, reinforcing the upward trend of recent years that the national economy has not been able to mitigate. It also represents the bulk of Spain's growing trade deficit with the rest of the world, which has increased by 86% until April.
Spain has imported products from China worth 12,095 million and has exported only 2,002 million. The latter figure is 24% higher than in the first three months of 2023, but still far from balancing the trade.
From capital goods to consumer goods, durable consumer goods, and automobiles, Spain's purchases of Chinese products are increasing without being able to export even half as much to Ibero-America or below other countries outside the EU such as Turkey.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, asked the Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 11th, during a controversial visit to Beijing, for greater market access in the East for Spanish products, particularly food. The Chinese commitment is to open the door further, but it takes time and, as stated to this newspaper by the Chinese ambassador in Spain, Yao Jing, "China has a trade surplus with more than 150 countries, some of which are also very large, like Spain, and they want our cheap products. We cannot change Spain's trade deficit overnight. It is very difficult."
This is the most unbalanced trade relationship Spain maintains with any country, even surpassing Germany with which the deficit is 2.576 million and the United States, which reaches 3.919 million. The trade deficit with the country presided over by Donald Trump has grown by 54% in the first quarter compared to the 2.547 million from the same period last year, but this has not saved Spain from the trade war, as the White House applies the same barriers to all EU countries equally. The US has once again been the main supplier of liquefied natural gas in these first months, surpassing Algeria.
The official report from the Ministry indicates that the Spanish economy has entered 2025 importing much more than it exports. The overall trade deficit is 15,099 million euros, 86% more than a year ago. Exports grew by 2.6%, but imports did so at a rate of 9.3%.
However, the Ministry of Economy highlights in its statement that exports grew by 8.5% in the month of March (less than half of imports) and that "in the complex international context, Spanish merchandise exports in March showed greater strength than those recorded by the eurozone (8.0%) and the EU-27 (7.5%)".
It also emphasizes that Spain remains competitive within the EU by maintaining a trade surplus with all its partners for the eighth consecutive year. "The countries with which the Spanish economy recorded the largest surpluses were: France (4,667.6 million euros), Portugal (4,110.2 million), and the United Kingdom (3,432.6 million)." The deficit with China is now approaching the sum of these three balances.