China's trade with the Middle East reached US $271.7 billion in 2020, with exports to the region amounting to US $143.4 billion and imports to US $128.3 billion, according to international and Chinese official data, the Saudi Economic Herald reported Tuesday. Saudi Arabia accounted for one quarter of the total, or 24.7%, and became China's largest trading partner at about $67.1 billion, of which Saudi exports were $39 billion while imports were $28.1 billion, achieving a surplus of $10.9 billion. The top five countries were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (18.1 percent), Iraq (11.1 percent), Turkey (8.9 percent) and Oman (6.9 percent). Oman is the only one of the five countries other than Saudi Arabia to have a trade surplus with China in 2020 (Oman exports $15.6 billion, imports $3.1 billion, a trade surplus of $12.5 billion), while the other three countries all have deficits. Notably, China is the largest importer of Saudi oil and the world's second-largest consumer of crude after the United States.