China says ‘sky won’t fall’ as exports surge ahead of Donald Trump’s tariffs

Open the newsletter to watch the White House for free

Your guide to what the American elections mean 2024 for Washington and the world

China’s exports increased last month in a sign of rush to send shipments before the “Liberation Day” tariff in Donald Trump raised a full trade war between the two largest economies in the world.

Exports increased by 12.4 percent in US dollars in March in the previous year. Imports fell 4.3 percent.

The Trump administration had already imposed an additional 20 percent tariff on China in March, before a dramatic escalation of treatment, prompting the fees far higher than 100 percent on each other.

The deteriorating trade war rocked the international markets, the cases of the World Board of Directors and the shipbuilding basins, which have been canceled.

Last week, Washington stopped assembling the “mutual” customs tariffs on its other commercial partners while raising China, as it sought to isolate Beijing, who took revenge on Friday by intensifying its measures to 125 percent.

Global stocks for apostasy were set on Monday after exciting sales last week, as indications in China, Hong Kong and Japan indicate the American and European markets that indicate gains later in the day.

“The sky will not fall,” said Lu Daliang on Monday. He referred to the “vast” local demand and repeated a wave of official comments that emphasize the country’s flexibility.

The Chinese economy has relied heavily on exports to support growth over the past year amid the slowdown in the real estate sector and the weak local consumption, which Beijing is fighting to revive. Last week, the government rushed to support the local stock market.

On Friday, the United States said that fees on smartphones and other consumer electronics, as well as some semiconductors and design equipment, will be exempt, but Trump on Sunday said that the decline will only be temporary.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday evening, Trump said that he and his team “will talk to companies” and that there will be flexibility for “some products”, without specification.

While Mars data showed a leap in exports, economists expect a different environment in the coming months in light of the trade war. Goldman Sachs reduced the real GDP growth forecast last week to 4 percent, from 4.5 percent, noting “a sharp decline in exports to the United States.”

“There have been signs of redirecting shipments across the third countries,” said Julian Evans Bretchard, adding that “we believe it may take years before Chinese exports regain the current levels,” he said, adding that there are already “signs to redirect shipments across the third countries.”

Exports to the United States rose 4.5 percent in March. But it rose more severely to Southeast Asia, increasing 17 percent to Vietnam and 18 percent to Thailand. Both were targeted to high levels of American tariffs, which have been suspended since then.

China’s trade surplus with the United States, which Trump has repeatedly cited it as justifications for definitions, has reached $ 76.6 billion in the first quarter.

China’s leader Xi Jinping Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia visit this week, seeking to enhance relations, and warned that commercial wars “will not produce any winner.” Last week, Shi, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, hosted in Beijing, in the first important diplomatic meeting since the escalation of the customs tariff.

Participated in additional reports by Arjun Neil Ayman and William Sandlwand in Hong Kong and Xueqiao in Shanghai