Despite a truce in their ongoing trade war, China’s exports to the United States fell 29% year-over-year in November, their eighth consecutive month of decline.
Data shows that China’s U.S.-bound goods continue to drop as manufacturers in the Asian nation send shipments to other markets around the world.
Outbound shipments from China to the wider world rose 5.9% in November, according to the country’s customs data. That beat economists’ forecast for 3.8% growth.
November’s overall exports from China were a recovery after an unexpected 1.1% drop in October, the first contraction since March 2024.
At the same time, China’s imports rose 1.9% in November, missing expectations for 3% growth as a protracted housing downturn and rising job insecurity drag on domestic consumption.
However, exports to the U.S. plunged 28.6% in November, marking the eighth straight month of double-digit declines in shipments to the world’s largest consumer market.
November’s drop resulted despite Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump touting a truce reached in the two country’s trade war in October of this year.
Imports from America shrank 19% from a year earlier during November.
Economists note that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods remain at around 47.5%, while Beijing’s levies on imports from the U.S. stand at 32%.
So far this year, China’s exports to the U.S. have declined 18.9% year-over-year, while imports have dropped 13.2%.
Shrinking U.S. exports in November were more than offset by surging shipments to other markets, particularly China’s two largest trading blocs, the European Union and other Asian nations.
China’s exports to Europe rose 15% year-on-year in November.
In the first 11 months of 2024, China’s overall exports grew 5.4% compared to the same period in 2024 while imports fell 0.6%, taking the nation’s trade surplus to $1.08 trillion U.S., up 21.6%.
China’s government is expected to meet later in December for their annual “Central Economic Work Conference,” where they discuss economic growth targets and budgets for next year.
Related Stories
