Despite trade war with Washington, Chinese foreign trade is flourishing

Despite the trade war between Washington and Beijing, Chinese foreign trade rose sharply in September. Exports increased by 14.5 percent to $226.7 billion a year earlier, while imports from the US rose 14.3 percent to $195 billion. The trade balance clocks to a surplus of nearly 32 billion dollars, the Chinese customs reports Friday.

Analysts assumed an 8.2 percent higher export. But strong domestic demand in China continues to push demand for imported goods, despite the severely cooled relations between China and the US. China’s trade surplus with the US reached another record in September: $34.1 billion.

US President Donald Trump announced higher import tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods last month, bringing the total to higher rates of $250 billion in Chinese goods this year. China always replicates with equivalent import duties on American goods, such as soya beans, cars and airplanes. Trump said Thursday that he can do “much more” to hit the Chinese economy.

In the first three quarters of this year, Chinese exports grew 12.2 percent in one year and imports went up by 20 percent.