Goods trade is only one slice of China’s external balance, and it is increasingly offset by large outflows such as import of services and investment income payments. The country is a major importer of foreign services, ranging from transport to financial services. All these have resulted in a persistent and sizeable services trade deficit – roughly US$200 billion a year that offsets part of the goods surplus. Then there is investment income. Those payments, now at about US$150 billion, reflect decades of inward foreign direct investment that has helped build China’s industrial base in the first place.