A median of economic forecasts predicted that China’s trade surplus topped US$20 billion for the third straight month in August, Bloomberg reported. Exports are estimated to have exceeded imports by US$26.9 billion, compared with US$15.7 billion a year earlier. Shipments abroad increased by 35% and imports 27.5%. The official figures will be released tomorrow, but the result is likely to stoke tensions with the US over China’s renminbi exchange rate policy. The US House Ways and Means Committee is meeting next week to discuss China’s currency policy: After a publicly announced compromise with the US to let the renminbi appreciate, Beijing has only allowed less than 1% increase in the value of the renminbi against the dollar, which Washington blames for imbalance in Sino-US trade.