Chinese exports show resilience in April despite US tariffs

China has defied US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented tariff increases by posting stronger-than-expected export growth in April, potentially giving Chinese negotiators an advantage when they hold talks with their US counterparts in Switzerland at the weekend.

China’s April exports beat market expectations and grew by 8.1 per cent year on year to US$315.69 billion, customs data showed on Friday, compared with a 12.4 per cent rise in March.

Exports to the United States, however, fell by 21 per cent, the sharpest drop in 21 months, compared with a 9.09 per cent rise in March.

“The export data is a surprise and well above my estimate of 2 to 3 per cent growth,” said Xu Tianchen, senior China economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, adding that the full impact of US tariffs may not yet be visible in the data but that small businesses in China’s coastal cities were already feeling the pinch.

Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group, agreed that the strong growth was “quite unexpected”. She said that while the US tariffs might have been expected to put pressure on Chinese production, they had actually created a short-term boost in demand for Chinese intermediate goods.

“Even though production in China was halted for some companies, their overseas factories – in places like Vietnam and Cambodia – were working flat out to meet the deadline during the 90-day break [on the imposition of increased US tariffs],” Wang said. “And whenever they ramp up production, they end up importing high-quality intermediate goods and raw materials from China. So this has actually been a boost for China.”