BEIJING : Growth in Chinese exports to the United States ticked up in October as traders rushed to beat a new tariff increase in a battle over Beijing’s technology policy.
Shipments to the United States, China’s biggest market, have been unexpectedly resilient since President Donald Trump started imposing punitive tariffs on goods in July in a fight over Beijing’s technology policy. Exports rose 13.3 percent in October over a year earlier to $42.7 billion, up from September’s 13 percent growth, customs data showed Thursday.
China’s trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $31.8 billion from September’s record $34.1 billion as imports of American goods rose 8.5 percent to $10.9 billion.
Traders are rushing to beat a U.S. tariff increase planned for January, ING economist Iris Pang said in a report. Pang said they are pessimistic this month’s planned meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Argentina will yield positive results.
“We expect this front-loading behavior to continue for the rest of 2018,” Pang said.
“Continued strong export growth in October reflected accelerated deliveries of export orders ahead of the U.S. tariff hike,” said Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at IHS Markit in Singapore. “Export momentum will likely slow sharply in early 2019.”
