China’s Overall Trade on the Rise, with Marked Increase in Imports

China’s overall trade grew in April with both exports and particularly imports increasing from a year earlier, further indicating strengthening expansion in China’s economy. Exports rose by 1.5% from a year earlier in dollar terms, meaning the growth was significantly larger in volume of goods, given the dollar’s appreciation over that year.

Imports were up by 8.4%, in part for the same reason, but indicating a large increase in volume of goods. The import growth was most welcome to Chinese authorities, and was accompanied by a year-to-year increase in the Consumer Price Index which showed a rise in domestic economic demand.

In the first four months of the year, China’s international merchandise trade globally rose 5.7% year-on-year. More specifically concerning total trade with the United States, China’s exports grew 2.4% year-on-year in the same time period, while imports declined by 2.5%. The U.S. remained China’s third-largest trading partner in those four months, after ASEAN and the EU, according to the Global Times’ calculations.

In reporting the new data on May 9, the Global Times remarked:

“The surging trade sent a stern warning to certain U.S. politicians and their decoupling push against Chinese exports, either in the guise of smearing ‘overcapacity’ or hyping ‘de-risking,’ analysts said. It shows that those politicians’ actions – motivated by geopolitical intentions – severely deviate from the interests of the U.S. business community, and only pragmatic cooperation with the Chinese side would lead to win-win results, they noted.”