China's towering annual trade surplus surpassed $1 trillion for the first time last month, data showed Monday, as a sharp drop in shipments to the United States was offset by surging exports to other major markets.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump reached a tentative truce to their fierce trade war when they met in late October, agreeing a pause to painful measures that included lofty tit-for-tat tariffs.

Exports have served as a key economic lifeline for China as trade and relations with the United States and others have fluctuated in recent years.

That has helped temper a prolonged debt crisis in the country's vast property sector and sluggish domestic spending, which have weighed on growth and are among the most pressing issues facing Beijing.

Exports climbed 5.9 percent year-

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