The Big Picture

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Chinese Premier Li Qiang pictured at Farmleigh last week: trade between Ireland and China is thriving, and in Ireland’s favour Picture: PA

The most astonishing little fact to emerge last week is that Ireland is the only country in the European Union to have a trade surplus with China.

EU figures for 2022 show we exported goods valued at €13 billion to China and imported goods valued at just over €12 billion, giving us a surplus of €773 million.

The scale of this commerce is quite an achievement for two economies so far apart on the map, ...