FRONTLOADING
Analysts attributed the March surge to a rush to export ahead of Trump’s Apr 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs on all trade partners that sent global markets tumbling.
“The strong export data reflect frontloading of trade before the US tariffs were announced,” Zhiwei Zhang, President and Chief Economist at Pinpoint Asset Management said in a note.
“China’s exports will likely weaken in coming months as the US tariffs skyrocket,” he added.
“The uncertainty of trade policies is extremely high,” Zhang said.
Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said in a note that “in anticipation of even higher duties, demand from US importers continued to hold up fairly well” in March.
“But shipments are set to drop back over the coming months and quarters,” he added.
“It could be years before Chinese exports regain current levels.”
And the world’s second-largest economy continues to struggle with sluggish consumption and a prolonged debt crisis in its property sector.
Beijing announced a string of aggressive measures to reignite the economy last year, including cutting interest rates, cancelling restrictions on homebuying, hiking the debt ceiling for local governments and bolstering support for financial markets.
But after a blistering market rally last year fuelled by hopes for a long-awaited “bazooka stimulus”, optimism waned as authorities refrained from providing a specific figure for the bailout or fleshing out any of the pledges.
.jpg?itok=Ox6HmVBj "‘Charismatic, honest, noble’: Tributes pour in for former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as country holds state funeral")
