January trade with US declines: customs data DATA

China’s trade with the US declined by 10.1 percent and the trade surplus widened in January, as uncertainties about the China-US trade relationship weighed on shipments. But domestic analysts said that with policy support and a gradual rebound in confidence, the situation might improve in the second quarter.

According to figures announced by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday, China’s January trade surplus with the US widened by 31.2 percent to 188.4 billion yuan ($27.8 billion), and overall trade with the US dropped 10.1 percent to 315.8 billion yuan.

China’s imports from the US edged down by 38.6 percent year-onyear to 63.7 billion yuan in January. In terms of exports, China sold 252.1 billion yuan worth of goods to the US in January, up by 1.9 percent yearon-year, but slowing from the 8.6 percent growth seen in the previous month.

The figures for the US also reflect that China’s dependence on US trade is sliding, said Bai Ming, deputy director

of the Ministry of Commerce’s International Market Research Institute. “But if there’s no solution to the two countries’ trade row in the near future, there’s a possibility that the China-US trade platform and industrial chain could be harmed, which will hurt the bilateral trade relationship to a greater extent than at present,” he said.

A report the financial research center under Bank of Communications sent to the Global Times noted that company confidence about China-US trade might start to rebound gradually in March, and export growth might restore accordingly in the second quarter this year.