Chinese exports surge in April despite US tariffs

(Sharecast News) - China's trade surplus was much higher than expected in April despite the introduction of trade tariffs, as export levels surged to countries outside of the US while imports fell less than anticipated. In dollar terms, the trade balance stood at $96.18bn last month, down from $102.64bn but up from $72.04bn a year earlier, according to the General Administration of Customs on Friday.

This was well ahead of the consensus forecast of $89bn.

Export growth did indeed slow to 8.1% year-on-year from a massive 12.4% in March when exporters rushed to ship products to the US ahead of launch of the Trump administration's trade tariffs in early April.

Compared with a year earlier, exports to the US sank by 21% in April after growing by 4.5% in March, but shipments to other markets rose strongly, including South East Asian nations (20.8%), Taiwan (15.5%), the EU (8.3%), Japan (7.8%) and Australia (5.8%).

Imports, meanwhile, declined by just 0.2%, easing from the 4.3% fall seen in March; surprising economists who had pencilled in a 5.9% drop compared with last year.