El Salvador is buying far more from China than it sells there, a bad deal for local industry eight years after it dropped Taiwan for Beijing.

• For every dollar of goods China buys from El Salvador, the country buys back nearly 39 dollars' worth of Chinese products.
• Chinese imports hit their highest level since 2017 this year, led by phones, plastics and computers.
• El Salvador sells China almost nothing but sugar, and China still isn't among its top 20 export markets.
• Salvadoran manufacturers say a free trade deal with China has been stuck for two years while subsidized and counterfeit Chinese goods flood in.
• The switch from Taiwan to Beijing in 2018 brought about $150 million in Chinese aid and a shipment of rice.

Outlook: The gap looks set to widen, with local industry pushing back harder against cheap Chinese imports.