China still managed to accumulate economic gains the size of Indonesia's GDP and that of other medium-sized G-20 economies, despite posting slower growth in 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)
China is currently experiencing an economic slowdown following years of breakneck pace in expansion. Yet the country's increase in its 2016 GDP is still enough to fit Indonesia's entire GDP and that of other G-20 countries.
CNN Money reported that growth was sluggish in China in 2016 at 6.8 percent--the lowest of its recent boom years since 1990. Nonetheless, such constitutes an additional $823 billion to the country's GDP, which is the equivalent of some countries' entire economies.
The likes of Indonesia, Netherlands, and Turkey have economies that are about the same size as that of China's growth in 2016. Bloomberg described the country's economic expansion last year was akin to the addition of an entire medium-sized G-20 economy's GDP.
A closer look at China's relatively lackluster economic growth last year shows that the country remains a force to be reckoned. Hebei Province, considered as the country's "rust belt" due to its heavy industries, grew by 6.8 percent ($480 million) despite the closure of several factories, about the size of Poland's GDP.
As China continues to add amounts greater than several economies' GDPs to its economy every year, such trend provides for a compelling perspective as to why the U.S. needs to reconsider its impending move to hold a trade war against the country.
Having just transitioned under the days-old administration of President Donald Trump, the U.S. has yet to break its silence regarding its relations with China, particularly on trade. Trump, however, has been rabidly vocal against the country during the campaign on the back of his "America First" advocacy.
Nonetheless, China also stands to lose something should Trump push the U.S. to deal fractiously with it on economic matters. The value of the yuan remains volatile amid these issues, and the Chinese government is also tending to growing debt generated by various stimulus programs.
