bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Karen Yeung

Finbarr Bermingham

Trade flows between China and the United States are shrinking quickly as officials scramble for a deal that would end the trade war.
Chinese imports of US products plunged 41.1 per cent from a year earlier to US$9.2 billion last month, the lowest since February 2016, according to data released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs on Thursday.
The fall in US exports to China contrasted sharply with the China’s overall imports last month, which remained largely steady with only a 1.5 per cent fall year-on-year.
According to Chinese customs data, China’s imports from the US has now fallen for eight consecutive months, month-on-month, the longest period of continuous decline since monthly bilateral trade data was first made available in 1999.
In January alone, China’s imports from the US were smaller than its imports from Australia, South Korea, Taiwan or Germany.
China’s exports shot up dramatically in January boosted by EU and Asean orders, despite US trade war
One of the few US products China is buying more of is soybeans. The data shows that soybean imports increased 29 per cent from December, after China agreed to make more purchases during trade negotiations.
“China has increasingly turned back towards US soybeans since the first trade talks took place at the G20 summit in late November. Just over the last week, almost 480 kilotons of US soybeans inspected for export were destined for China,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING.
Going the other way, Chinese exports to the US fell slightly, down 2.4 per cent to US$36.5 billion in January.


In comparison, Chinese exports to the European Union jumped 15.3 per cent in January from a year earlier, while exports to Asean improved by 12.5 per cent if measured in US dollar terms.
China’s overall exports expanded by 9.1 per cent, however analysts have warned that this should not be taken as a barometer of the health of the country’s trade economy and was largely due to seasonal factors.
“Nobody was looking at the seasonality of that data until we got the 9.1 per cent growth, at which point we realised it was a long January compared to last year,” said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis.
The future of bilateral trade between China and the US is largely dependent on the outcome of trade talks ongoing in Beijing this week.
The US has threatened to increase tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese products to 25 per cent from 10 per cent if the two sides fail to reach a deal by March 1.
Tianjin’s foreign investment and jobs drop amid trade war and industrial shift to new sectors
However, US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he could let the deadline “slide” if a deal appears to be close, while Bloomberg reported on Thursday that Trump is considering extending the deadline by another 60 days.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet a top US delegation, including US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in Beijing on Friday, sources told the South China Morning Post earlier this week.
Louis Kuijs, the chief Asian economist at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong, wrote in a note that further tariff hikes will be suspended between China and the US in light of “positive signals” regarding the US-China trade negotiations.
While a trade pact will not dispel “underlying tensions about technology and China’s industrial policy”, an agreement and prolonged tariff suspension would “imply an upside risk to growth of China’s exports and economy more generally,” Kuijs wrote.


EU leaders plan trip to Beijing in July for summit with Xi Jinping

US markets slide as tariffs on imports from China now hit 145%

US stocks open lower day after Trump pauses tariffs

‘Game of strategic resolve’: can China outflank US in protracted trade war?

US-China trade war

US exports to China plunged in January as trade war chill took effect

The ship Hammersmith Bridge (C) which has just arrived from Shanghai in China, unloads Chinese shipping containers at the Port of Long Beach, in Los Angeles County. President Donald Trump insisted that there had been "absolutely no impact" on the US economy from the escalating trade dispute between his administration and China. "We have to make it fair. So we're at $250 billion now, 25 percent interest," he said in reference to a package of tariffs imposed on Chinese imports. Photo: AFP

Economy

China Economy

Global Economy

News

China

Diplomacy

Business

China Business

China imports from US plunged 41.1 per cent in January from a year earlier, Beijing says
Overall exports rose significantly but analysts put this down to seasonal factors


China’s imports from the US has now fallen for eight consecutive months, the longest continuous decline for 20 years.


US-China trade war: All stories

US-China relations

China economy

US exports to China plunged in January as trade war chill took effect

China imports from US plunged 41.1 per cent in January from a year earlier, Beijing says Overall exports rose significantly but analysts put this down to seasonal factors

China imports from US plunged 41.1 per cent in January from a year earlier, Beijing says

Overall exports rose significantly but analysts put this down to seasonal factors