China posts its biggest trade surplus with the United States on record, exports fall sharply

[enhanced_deficit]

Escalation in trade war coming ?


January 13, 2019 / 9:35 PM / Updated an hour ago
China's exports shrink most in 2 years, raising risks for global economy

Yawen Chen, Martin Quin Pollard
4 Min Read

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s exports unexpectedly fell the most in two years in December and imports also contracted, pointing to further weakness in the world’s second-largest economy in 2019 and deteriorating global demand.

Adding to policymakers’ worries, data on Monday also showed China posted its biggest trade surplus with the United States on record in 2018, which could prompt President Donald Trump to turn up the heat on Beijing in their cantankerous trade dispute.

Softening demand in China is already being felt around the world, with slowing sales of goods ranging from iPhones to automobiles prompting profit warnings from the likes of Apple and Jaguar Land Rover.
The dismal December trade readings suggest China’s economy may have lost more momentum late in the year than earlier thought, despite a slew of growth boosting measures in recent months ranging from higher infrastructure spending to tax cuts.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-c...-idUSKCN1P8047

[Swordsmyth]

The purchases made to get ahead of the tariffs inflate the numbers for last year, this year will not be so good for China.

[Bern]

...
The export figures are a focus and they are poor indeed. But save some space in the barf bag for the import results, they are terrible - huge miss on these.

Demand in China has been showing evidence of slowing. This is a nail in the coffin.
...

https://moneymaven.io/mishtalk/econo...k-gOrFjGJ5ORw/