BEIJING (AP) – China’s trade surplus soared 67 percent in July from a year ago to its second-highest monthly level on record, according to data reported Friday, amid pressure by American lawmakers to sanction Beijing over trade and currency disputes.

July’s surplus totaled $24.4 billion, the Chinese customs agency reported. That beat every previous month except June’s all-time high of $26.9 billion.

Analysts had expected the surplus to ease in July after exporters rushed to ship goods in earlier months to beat changes in tax policy meant to narrow China’s yawning trade gap.

The surplus grew despite recalls and warnings targeting faulty or tainted Chinese goods ranging from toothpaste to tires to seafood in America and other countries.

America and other trading partners are pressing Beijing to ease currency controls and barriers to imports. Some American lawmakers are pressing for sanctions on China if it fails to ease controls on its currency, the yuan, which critics say is undervalued and gives Chinese exporters an unfair price advantage.

The American Senate is considering two measures to penalize China for its currency controls.

Senate panels approved them over the protests of American Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, who is conducting a long-running “strategic economic dialogue” with Beijing over trade and other disputes and says punitive legislation would disrupt that process.

The July figure raised China’s total trade surplus for the first seven months of this year to $136.8 billion, the General Administration of Customs said on its Web site.

July exports surged 34.2 percent to $107.7 billion while imports rose more slowly, expanding 26.9 percent to $83.4 billion, the agency said.

China’s July trade surplus with the United States was $14.4 billion. Exports rose 18 percent to $20.4 billion while imports of American goods rose 15.8 percent to $6 billion, the agency said.

China’s total surplus with the United States stands at $88.3 billion for the first seven months of the year, according to the government’s figures. Beijing often reports a much smaller figure than Washington for China’s trade gap with America.

America reported a trade deficit of $232.5 billion with China last year, its biggest ever with any country. This year’s gap is expected to exceed that.
China’s trade surplus with the European Union, its biggest trading partner, was $12.1 billion (8.9 billion euros), according to the customs agency’s figures.

Exports to Europe rose 31.9 percent to $21.9 billion (16 billion euros) and imports rose 21.8 percent to $9.8 billion (7.2 billion euros).

Beijing insists it is not actively pursuing a trade surplus and has tried to cool the boom by repealing rebates of value-added taxes on hundreds of products and imposing additional taxes on exports of some goods such as steel.

But despite such steps, foreign demand for Chinese goods has surged while import growth has slowed due to government efforts to contain a boom in construction and investment that it worries could cause a financial crisis. That has cut into Chinese purchases of factory equipment and other foreign goods.

China has reported its five highest monthly trade surpluses in the past ten months.

June’s record $26.9 billion broke the earlier record of $23.8 billion set in October and surpassed February’s $23.7 billion and May’s $22.4 billion.

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China Customs (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cn