China said Monday that exports soared 12.4 percent year-on-year last month, beating expectations as Beijing navigated mounting trade headwinds sparked by US President Donald Trump.
The figure was more than double the 4.6 percent predicted in a Bloomberg survey, though imports during the same period fell 4.3 percent, Beijing’s General Administration of Customs said.
China’s top leaders last month set an ambitious annual growth target of around five percent, vowing to make domestic demand its main economic driver.
But its fragile recovery faces fresh woes from Trump’s trade war, with huge tariffs.
However, Beijing said Monday that the United States remained the largest single overseas destination for Chinese shipments in January-March, amounting to $115.6 billion.
“The strong export data reflect frontloading of trade before the US tariffs were announced,” Zhiwei Zhang, President and Chief Economist at Pinpoint Asset Management said in a note.
“China’s exports will likely weaken in coming months as the US tariffs skyrocketed,” he added.
“The uncertainty of trade policies is extremely high.”
Additionally, the second-largest economy in the world is still dealing with slow spending and a protracted debt crisis in the real estate industry.
Last year, Beijing unveiled a series of bold policies aimed at reviving the economy, such as lowering interest rates, lifting homebuying restrictions, raising the debt ceiling for local governments, and strengthening support for financial markets.
Hopes for a long-awaited “bazooka stimulus” fueled a ferocious market rise last year, but as officials declined to elaborate on any of the promises or provide a precise amount for the bailout, optimism dwindled.
