China’s exports declined in June after the U.S. raised tariffs on Chinese goods and imports continued to fall on weakening domestic demand.
Exports fell 1.3 percent on a yearly basis in June, data from the General Administration of Customs revealed on Friday. Shipments were forecast to fall 1.4 percent after rising 1.1 percent in May.
Imports decreased markedly by 7.3 percent annually, bigger than the expected fall of 4.6 percent, but smaller than the 8.5 percent decline logged in May.
As a result, the trade surplus increased to $50.98 billion from $41.66 billion in May. The surplus exceeded the forecast of $45 billion.
The Donald Trump administration in the U.S. had raised the tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent on May 10. June was the first full month with higher U.S. tariffs.
Nonetheless, the trade surplus with the U.S. exceeded $29 billion in June.
“We don’t expect global growth to bottom out until next year,” Julian Evans-Pritchard and Martin Rasmussen, economists at Capital Economics, said.
“While the truce reached between Trump and [Chinese President] Xi at the G20 late last month removes the immediate threat of further US tariffs, our base case remains that trade talks will break down again before long,” economists added.
The National Bureau of Statistics releases GDP data for the second quarter on July 15. The economy had expanded at a steady pace of 6.4 percent in the first quarter.
Elsewhere, data from People’s Bank of China showed that banks extended CNY 1.66 trillion in loans in June compared to CNY 1.18 trillion in May. New yuan lending was forecast to rise to CNY 1.67 trillion.
Similarly, aggregate financing climbed to CNY 2.27 trillion from CNY 1.4 trillion in the previous month. The expected level was CNY 1.9 trillion.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Economic News
What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more.
