Chinese imports are imposed in the DR and create a negative trade balance for the country

When weighing the exchange between the Dominican Republic and China, it leans almost entirely in favor of the Asian giant, and puts Quisqueya at a disadvantage or loss. While China is the second country from which the most imports arrive in the Dominican Republic, in terms of exports it is the seventh, and as a generator of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), it does not even appear among the top 20 countries generating FDI, in a list where even small Caribbean islands appear, and not an economic giant like China, that is, they do not invest in our country. This disadvantageous trade relationship translates into a significant erosion of the foreign currency produced by the Dominican economy. In the year 2024, the total trade between both countries was US$5,530.43 million, of which US$5,204.60 million correspond to imports and only US$326 million to exports, resulting in a negative balance of -US$4,878.77 million. According to data as of October 2025, this year the scenario is not very different, total trade amounts to US$4,725.90 million, of which US$4,460.75 million correspond to imports and US$265 million to exports, for a negative trade balance of US$4,195.60 million.

Although exports to China are growing and the country’s promoting authorities such as Prodominicana are betting on that country as a destination that will help diversify exports, the reality is that imports are much more and are growing at a much faster rate.

The total US$325.8 million exported to China in 2024 reveals a year-on-year growth of 35.0%, an absolute increase of US$84.4 million, with 151 products exported, from 113 exporters, and from 9 different provinces of the country. Of those total exports, US$$171.4 million correspond to the free zone regime and $154.3 to the national regime. As of October 2025, of the US$265 million that has been exported, registering in that period an annual growth of 2.0%, and an absolute variation of US$5.3 million, through 168 products, from 108 exporters, and from 8 different provinces of the country. This year, US$140.4 million correspond to the national regime, and US$124.6 million to free trade zones. Exports to China are fundamentally of minerals, slag and ash, tobacco and substitutes, photographic, optical, cinematographic, control and precision instruments and apparatus, and medical and surgical appliances. In smaller proportion; copper and copper manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, plastics and manufacturing, electrical machines and apparatus. China is also emerging as a vehicle producer, although the stock of the Dominican vehicle fleet continues to be made up of automobiles from Japan, the United States, and Korea, China is already the fourth player in the market, with a 14.11% share, driven by electric and low-cost brands and growing every year. Despite these data, Prodominicana is more optimistic. This entity understands that the cooperation between China and the Dominican Republic already shows concrete results, with Chinese companies operating in Dominican free zones and generating more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. In the tourism sector, China’s contribution is also not yet significant; any smaller country in the region in terms of population and economy sends more tourists to the Dominican Republic. In 2024, the total number of Chinese tourists who visited our country was only 21,131, even the lowest emitter from the Asian continent. In 2025, 18,791 have arrived.

Lack of diligence?

After seven years and six months since the opening of diplomatic relations between the Dominican Republic and China, the results do not correspond to the expectations that were generated on that historic first of May 2018 when the Dominican government and that of the People’s Republic of China formally established relations. Six months later, the first official visit of a Dominican president took place, with then-President Danilo Medina, who traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, accompanied by a large Dominican political and business commission. However, that trajectory that Dominican-Chinese relations were taking took a turn starting in 2020, first due to the covid-19 pandemic which redefined many commercial and logistical aspects, and second due to the vision of the government of President Luis Abinader, who has put all his eggs in the American basket. The government that took office in August 2020 seems unaware of which archive the previous administration left the 18 bilateral agreements signed with China in November 2018.

Although it is not possible to measure it, that change of vision between Governments in relation to China explains why dozens of airlines are not arriving bringing hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists each month, and why hundreds of containers loaded with tobacco and rum are not leaving for China, as conceived seven years and six months ago when relations were formalized.

Whether we like it or not, the Chinese economy is a reality, and it’s better to try to take advantage of it than to turn our backs on the request of an important partner, and that the goods it produces from that country continue to flood our market, putting pressure on the trade deficit, and taking a good part of the dollars that the Dominican economy struggles so much to produce.