Latest news with #YukunZhang
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China's May exports slow, deflation deepens as tariffs bite
By Yukun Zhang, Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) -China's May exports growth slowed to a three-month low as U.S. tariffs slammed shipments, while factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years, heaping pressure on the world's second-largest economy on both the domestic and external fronts. Exports expanded 4.8% year-on-year in value terms in May, slowing from the 8.1% jump in April and missing the 5.0% growth expected in a Reuters poll, customs data showed on Monday, despite a lowering of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods which had taken effect in early April. Imports dropped 3.4% year-on-year, deepening sharply from the 0.2% decline in April and worse than the 0.9% downturn expected in the Reuters poll. Exports had surged 12.4% year-on-year and 8.1% in March and April, respectively, as factories rushed shipments to the U.S. and other overseas manufacturers to avoid U.S. President Trump's hefty levies on China and the rest of the world. While exporters in China found some respite in May as Beijing and Washington agreed to suspend most of their levies for 90 days, tensions between the world's two largest economies remain high and negotiations are underway over issues ranging from China's rare earths controls to Taiwan. Trade representatives from China and the U.S. are meeting in London on Monday to resume talks after a phone call between their top leaders on Thursday. China's May trade surplus came in at $103.2 billion, up from the $96.18 billion the previous month. Beijing in May rolled out a series of monetary stimulus measures, including cuts to benchmark lending rates and a 500 billion yuan low-cost loan program for supporting elderly care and services consumption. The measures are aimed at cushioning the trade war's blow to an economy that relied on exports in its recovery from the pandemic shocks and a protracted property market slump. DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES Producer and consumer price data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics on the same day, showed that deflationary pressures worsened last month. The producer price index fell 3.3% in May from a year earlier, after a 2.7% decline in April and marked the deepest contraction in 22 months, while consumer prices extended declines, having dipped 0.1% last month from a year earlier. Cooling factory activity also highlights the impact of U.S. tariffs on the world's largest manufacturing hub, dampening faster services growth as suspense lingers over the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
China's May exports slow, deflation deepens as tariffs bite
By Yukun Zhang, Qiaoyi Li and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) -China's May exports growth slowed to a three-month low as U.S. tariffs slammed shipments, while factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years, heaping pressure on the world's second-largest economy on both the domestic and external fronts. Exports expanded 4.8% year-on-year in value terms in May, slowing from the 8.1% jump in April and missing the 5.0% growth expected in a Reuters poll, customs data showed on Monday, despite a lowering of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods which had taken effect in early April. Imports dropped 3.4% year-on-year, deepening sharply from the 0.2% decline in April and worse than the 0.9% downturn expected in the Reuters poll. Exports had surged 12.4% year-on-year and 8.1% in March and April, respectively, as factories rushed shipments to the U.S. and other overseas manufacturers to avoid U.S. President Trump's hefty levies on China and the rest of the world. While exporters in China found some respite in May as Beijing and Washington agreed to suspend most of their levies for 90 days, tensions between the world's two largest economies remain high and negotiations are underway over issues ranging from China's rare earths controls to Taiwan. Trade representatives from China and the U.S. are meeting in London on Monday to resume talks after a phone call between their top leaders on Thursday. China's May trade surplus came in at $103.2 billion, up from the $96.18 billion the previous month. Beijing in May rolled out a series of monetary stimulus measures, including cuts to benchmark lending rates and a 500 billion yuan low-cost loan program for supporting elderly care and services consumption. The measures are aimed at cushioning the trade war's blow to an economy that relied on exports in its recovery from the pandemic shocks and a protracted property market slump. DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES Producer and consumer price data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics on the same day, showed that deflationary pressures worsened last month. The producer price index fell 3.3% in May from a year earlier, after a 2.7% decline in April and marked the deepest contraction in 22 months, while consumer prices extended declines, having dipped 0.1% last month from a year earlier. Cooling factory activity also highlights the impact of U.S. tariffs on the world's largest manufacturing hub, dampening faster services growth as suspense lingers over the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's exports likely slowed sharply in April as Trump tariffs kick in: Reuters poll
By Yukun Zhang and Joe Cash BEIJING (Reuters) - China's export growth likely slowed significantly in April, as shipments to the United States were dampened by Trump's tariffs and uncertainty over whether the world's two largest economies can strike a deal to ease the trade tensions. Outbound shipments were expected to have risen by 1.9% year-on-year in value terms last month, according to the median forecasts of 32 economists polled by Reuters, slumping from a 12.4% jump in March that was buoyed by producers making a last-ditch effort to ship their wares before the tariffs took effect. Imports are forecast to have slumped further, down 5.9% over the same period and from a 4.3% decline in March. April trade data - scheduled to be released on Friday around 0300 GMT - should shed light on the immediate toll of the ongoing trade war on China's $18.7 trillion economy. Beijing has largely relied on exports to shore up its fragile economic recovery underway since the end of the pandemic and only began to take steps to boost domestic demand more earnestly late last year. Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has hiked levies on imports from China to 145%, in addition to those he imposed on many Chinese goods during his first term and the duties levied on Beijing by the Biden administration. China hit back by imposing export curbs on some rare earth elements and raising tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%, in addition to extra levies on select products including soybeans and liquefied natural gas. Officials from the two countries will meet in Switzerland on Saturday to start trade negotiations, potentially a step towards de-escalation. A breakdown of the poll numbers indicates that economists are divided on how Trump's tariffs would impact China's overall exports last month, with estimates ranging from a 7.0% growth to a 3.5% drop. Data for the official purchasing managers' index (PMI), released on April 30, showed that China's factory activity contracted at the fastest pace in 16 months in April. Nomura analysts in an April 28 report said that the U.S. accounted for 20.6% of China's total goods exports in 2024, when re-exports from Hong Kong and rerouting through other locations are included. They estimated that around 2.2% of China's GDP is directly hit by tariffs, and that China might lose roughly 1.1% of GDP in the near term, assuming the country's exports to the U.S. would be halved. China's policymakers on Wednesday rolled out a package of monetary stimulus measures, including liquidity injection and policy rate cuts, in a bid to soften the economic damage caused by the trade war.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China pushes for tariff cancellation to end US trade war
By Yukun Zhang, Jing Xu and Lewis Jackson BEIJING (Reuters) - China called for all "unilateral" U.S. tariffs to be cancelled on Thursday, as signs emerged that the Trump administration may de-escalate its trade war with Beijing. China also clarified it has not held trade talks with Washington despite repeated comments from the U.S. government suggesting there had been engagement. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. will have a deal with China and on Wednesday said there was "direct contact" between both countries. Trump, who calls his tariffs "reciprocal", says the duties aim to correct unfair trade imbalances with the U.S. The U.S. should remove all "unilateral tariff measures" against China "if it truly wanted" to solve the trade issue, Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said on Thursday. "The person who tied the bell must untie it," he told reporters at a regular press conference. The Trump administration would look at lowering tariffs on imported Chinese goods from their current level of 145% to possibly between 50% and 65%, pending talks with Beijing, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter. China's He also urged the U.S. to pay attention to the "rational voices" of the international community and domestic parties. "China and the United States have not conducted consultations or negotiations on tariffs, let alone reached an agreement," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a separate news briefing, calling reports of such information "false news". At home, China held a roundtable on Wednesday to address concerns of more than 80 foreign firms and chambers over the impact of U.S. tariffs on their investments and operations in China, according to a commerce ministry readout. "It is hoped that foreign firms crises into opportunities," Vice Commerce Minister Ling Ji said at the roundtable, promising to work on resolving problems faced by foreign firms. In Washington D.C., China's central bank Governor Pan Gongsheng said China will firmly support free trade rules and the multilateral trading system, in remarks made at a G20 meeting on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China pushes for tariff cancellation to end US trade war
By Yukun Zhang, Jing Xu and Lewis Jackson BEIJING (Reuters) - China called for all "unilateral" U.S. tariffs to be cancelled on Thursday, as signs emerged that the Trump administration may de-escalate its trade war with Beijing. China also clarified it has not held trade talks with Washington despite repeated comments from the U.S. government suggesting there had been engagement. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. will have a deal with China and on Wednesday said there was "direct contact" between both countries. Trump, who calls his tariffs "reciprocal", says the duties aim to correct unfair trade imbalances with the U.S. The U.S. should remove all "unilateral tariff measures" against China "if it truly wanted" to solve the trade issue, Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong said on Thursday. "The person who tied the bell must untie it," he told reporters at a regular press conference. The Trump administration would look at lowering tariffs on imported Chinese goods from their current level of 145% to possibly between 50% and 65%, pending talks with Beijing, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a source familiar with the matter. China's He also urged the U.S. to pay attention to the "rational voices" of the international community and domestic parties. "China and the United States have not conducted consultations or negotiations on tariffs, let alone reached an agreement," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a separate news briefing, calling reports of such information "false news". At home, China held a roundtable on Wednesday to address concerns of more than 80 foreign firms and chambers over the impact of U.S. tariffs on their investments and operations in China, according to a commerce ministry readout. "It is hoped that foreign firms crises into opportunities," Vice Commerce Minister Ling Ji said at the roundtable, promising to work on resolving problems faced by foreign firms. In Washington D.C., China's central bank Governor Pan Gongsheng said China will firmly support free trade rules and the multilateral trading system, in remarks made at a G20 meeting on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings. Sign in to access your portfolio
