China’s exports jumped 12.4% in March as companies rushed to get stuff into the U.S. ahead of Trump’s tariffs

China’s exports jumped by 12.4 % in March of the previous year in a wave of activity at the last minute, as companies rushed to overcome increases in the American definitions imposed by US president Donald Trump, and analysts expected sharp setbacks.

Imports decreased by 4.3 % to $ 211.3 billion in March, according to the customs administration, which exports exceeded 313.9 billion dollars, leaving a trade surplus of $ 102.6 billion.

“But the shipments are scheduled to decline during the coming months and four quarters.” “We think it can be years ago before Chinese exports regain the current levels.”

The Chinese trade surplus increased to 992.2 billion dollars in 2024 and its exports increased by 5.4 %, which helped compensate for slow growth at home, as the country slowly recovers from a crisis in the real estate market and its remaining effects in the Covid-19s.

After taking office, Trump for the first time asked for a 10 % increase in the definitions of imports from China. This later raised to 20 %. Now, China faces 145 % on most of its exports to the United States, based on the latest reviews in Trump’s commercial policies. China has responded by 125 % of the definitions of American products and other measures that aim to pinch the United States as it hurts more, such as controls on critical metal exports needed in high -tech manufacturing, such as the production of electric vehicles.

China’s trade surplus with the United States reached 27.6 billion dollars in March, with its exports increased by 4.5 %. It recorded a surplus of $ 76.6 billion with the United States in January to March, although exports increased by only 2.3 % in the first two months of the year.

“It is possible that the American importers have witnessed an increase in April onwards, onwards from the front imports,” Economist said in a report, but this trend is likely to fall with use.

“As a result, it is possible that the direct trade between the United States and China will start in April,” she said.

Customs data showed total exports from the second largest economy in the world by 5.8 % in the first three months of the year one year ago, while imports sank by 7 %, leaving a trade surplus of $ 273 billion.

Late Friday, Trump gave most of the computer -related commodities from China’s upper tariffs, including laptops, smartphones and the components needed to make them, although his administration says he is planning to announce those within days. These products represented nearly $ 174 billion in US imports from China last year.

However, the harsh American definitions of Chinese products raised questions about whether exporters may end up converting their goods into other external markets because they abandon the sale to American consumers because of more than twice as much as import duties.

The largest increases in exports in March to Southeast Asian neighbors in China, which witnessed the value of the dollar for shipments from China jumping 8 % in March of the previous year. Exports to Africa increased more than 11 % and that to India by about 14 %.

A customs administration spokesman, Liu Daliang, said China is facing a “complex and extreme” external situation, but the sky will not fall. He referred to the various export options in China and the huge local market.

When asked about the fall of Chinese imports, correspondents in Beijing told China that China was the second largest importer in the world for 16 consecutive years, which increased its share of global imports from about 8 % to 10.5 %.

“At the present time and in the future, the space for importing in China is huge and the large Chinese market is always a great opportunity for the world,” he said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was visiting Vietnam on Monday as part of a regional tour that would also take him to Malaysia and Cambodia, giving him an opportunity to stabilize trade relations with other Asian countries that also face a very slope tariff, despite Trump’s delay last week in enforcing it for 90 days.

China’s exports to Vietnam jumped nearly 17 % last month by a year, while its imports decreased by 2.7 %.

Commercial data already shows some effect of high definitions, with high -value -added elements such as shoes and clothes, while computer chips, home appliances and vehicles have risen.

China’s rare Earth exports fell almost 11 % in the first quarter of the year, as Beijing has stressed the controls on the strategic biomers used in electric cars and other high -tech products.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

2025-04-14 08:31:00