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Explainer | China trade: everything you need to know
- China’s export-driven economy was the workshop of the world for decades, accounting for 13 per cent of the world’s exports in 2017
- After a bruising few years for China’s trade economy, exports have come roaring back in recent months, even as imports lag
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
China’s export-driven economy was the workshop of the world for decades. In 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country accounted for 4 per cent of the world’s exports, and by 2017, that had risen to 13 per cent.
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Imports also skyrocketed as consumption grew in China.
The trade war with the United States damaged China’s exports, as tariffs made its goods more expensive for American customers.
The coronavirus also had a mixed impact on China’s trade. An early lockdown met exports suffered, while an economic shock domestically has dampened long-term demand for imports. But with much of the rest of the world in need of the sorts of lockdown goods China makes, its exports have been booming for the past six months.
What is the state of China’s exports?
China’s exports grew by 27.9 per cent in May 2021 from a year earlier to US$263.9 billion, down from the 32.3 per cent growth seen in April. This was also below the result of the Bloomberg survey, which predicted 32 per cent growth.
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