AFP, Beijing :
China’s trade surplus with the United States ballooned to a record $34.1 billion in September, despite a raft of US tariffs, official data showed Friday, adding fuel to the fire of a worsening trade war.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have soured sharply this year, with US President Donald Trump vowing on Thursday to inflict economic pain on China if it does not blink.
The two countries imposed new tariffs on a massive amount of each other’s goods mid-September, with the US targeting $200 billion in Chinese imports and Beijing firing back at $60 billion worth of US goods.
“China-US trade friction has caused trouble and pounded our foreign trade development,” customs spokesman Li Kuiwen told reporters Friday.
But China’s trade surplus with the US grew 10 percent in September from a record $31 billion in August, according to China’s customs administration. It was a 22 percent jump from the same month last year.
China’s exports to the US rose to $46.7 billion while imports slumped to $12.6 billion.
China’s overall trade – what it buys and sells with all countries including the US – logged a $31.7 billion surplus, as exports rose faster than imports.
Exports jumped 14.5 percent for September on-year, beating forecasts from analysts polled by Bloomberg News, while imports rose 14.3 percent on-year.
While the data showed China’s trade remained strong for the month, analysts forecast the trade war will start to hurt in coming months.
China’s export jump for the month suggests exporters were shipping goods early to beat the latest tariffs, said ANZ’s China economist Betty Wang, citing the bounce in electrical machinery exports, much of which faced the looming duties.
“We will watch for downside risks to China’s exports” in the fourth quarter, Wang said.
Analysts say a sharp depreciation of the yuan has also helped China weather the tariffs by making its exports cheaper.
China’s trade surplus with the United States ballooned to a record $34.1 billion in September, despite a raft of US tariffs, official data showed Friday, adding fuel to the fire of a worsening trade war.
Relations between the world’s two largest economies have soured sharply this year, with US President Donald Trump vowing on Thursday to inflict economic pain on China if it does not blink.
The two countries imposed new tariffs on a massive amount of each other’s goods mid-September, with the US targeting $200 billion in Chinese imports and Beijing firing back at $60 billion worth of US goods.
“China-US trade friction has caused trouble and pounded our foreign trade development,” customs spokesman Li Kuiwen told reporters Friday.
But China’s trade surplus with the US grew 10 percent in September from a record $31 billion in August, according to China’s customs administration. It was a 22 percent jump from the same month last year.
China’s exports to the US rose to $46.7 billion while imports slumped to $12.6 billion.
China’s overall trade – what it buys and sells with all countries including the US – logged a $31.7 billion surplus, as exports rose faster than imports.
Exports jumped 14.5 percent for September on-year, beating forecasts from analysts polled by Bloomberg News, while imports rose 14.3 percent on-year.
While the data showed China’s trade remained strong for the month, analysts forecast the trade war will start to hurt in coming months.
China’s export jump for the month suggests exporters were shipping goods early to beat the latest tariffs, said ANZ’s China economist Betty Wang, citing the bounce in electrical machinery exports, much of which faced the looming duties.
“We will watch for downside risks to China’s exports” in the fourth quarter, Wang said.
Analysts say a sharp depreciation of the yuan has also helped China weather the tariffs by making its exports cheaper.
