If China wanted to appease Donald Trump’s ever-present anger at its trade surplus with the United States, the latest trade figures won’t work to calm him down.
China’s exports to the rest of the world, announced on Monday, were unexpectedly down when they had been expected to rise.
But that was more than offset by the even bigger drop in China’s imports.
Analysts had been expecting a 5% rise in China’s imports from the rest of the world. Instead, they got a 7.6% fall.
The difference between the amount China sells and the amount it buys – the trade surplus that so excites the US president’s wrath – grew bigger.
As reported in BBC here.