China has reported that its exports rose 8% in April from the year before, much faster than most economists had been expecting
ByELAINE KURTENBACH AP business writer
China’s exports rose 8.1% in April from the year before, the government said Friday, faster than economists were expecting, though exports to the United States sank more than 20%.
Economists had forecast that China’s global exports would grow about 2% in April, down from a whopping 12.4% year-on-year increase in March. Imports fell 0.2% in April from the year before.
The data were released a day before U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other top U.S. officials were due to meet with Beijing’s lead trade envoy, He Lifeng. The plans for talks in Geneva, Switzerland, could bring a shift in the stalemate over President Donald Trump’s hikes in tariffs on Chinese good to as much as 145%.
But the world’s two biggest economies are at odds over a raft of issues, including colliding strategic interests that will likely impede progress in the talks.
Some of the punitive tariffs, including Beijing’s retaliatory 125% tariffs on U.S. exports