by Calculated Risk on 1/09/2011 11:27:00 PM

From Bloomberg: China Reports Smaller Trade Surplus Before Obama Meeting

China reported a less-than-forecast $13.1 billion trade surplus for December, bolstering the nation’s bargaining position ahead of a Jan. 19 meeting where U.S. President Barack Obama may press for more gains in the yuan.

The gap compared with ... November’s $22.9 billion.

Nice timing - but I'm skeptical of China's data. The U.S. trade numbers for November will be released this Thursday. The country-by-country trade numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and there is always a huge surge in imports from China right before the holidays - and then a sharp decline, so this might just be seasonal. We will need to look at the year-over-year numbers for China on Thursday.