Beijing (AFP) – China’s exports beat expectations and rose 7.2 percent year-on-year in July, official data showed Thursday, as overseas shipments buoyed its struggling economy even as it navigated a shaky trade war truce with the United States. The two economic superpowers agreed in Stockholm last month to hold further talks on extending the tariff truce. That deal has temporarily set fresh US duties on Chinese goods at 30 percent, while Beijing’s levies on US goods stand at 10 percent.
The accord — initially agreed in Geneva in May — brought down triple-digit tariffs each side had imposed on the other after Donald Trump launched his “Liberation Day” levies on April 2. The 90-day truce is set to end on August 12, when the original duties could snap back. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said following the Stockholm talks that Trump would have the “final say” on any extension of a tariffs truce between Washington and Beijing. Higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners — including a blistering 35 percent on Canada — came into force Thursday as Trump seeks to reshape global trade to benefit the US economy. He has also threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on semiconductor imports.
Thursday’s data showing an increase in China’s overseas shipments last month outpaced a Bloomberg forecast of 5.6 percent. But the figures also showed that China’s exports to the United States, its largest trading partner, continued to fall, sinking 6.1 percent from the previous month. And imports — a key gauge of struggling domestic demand — jumped 4.1 percent year-on-year in July, compared with a Bloomberg forecast of a one-percent fall.
Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said the data showed “exports supported the economy strongly so far this year.” “Export growth may slow in coming months, as the front loading of exports due to US tariffs fades away,” he said. “The big question is how much China’s exports will slow and how it would spill over to the rest of the economy,” he said.
Beijing has said an official goal of around five percent growth this year. But it has struggled to maintain a strong economic recovery from the pandemic, as it fights a debt crisis in its massive property sector, chronically low consumption, and elevated youth unemployment. Factory output shrank more than expected in July, data showed last week.
© 2024 AFP
