China's trade with the United States fell in double digits again in September amid a tariff war threatening to plunge the world economy into recession. Customs data from China showed on Monday that exports to the United States, China's largest foreign market, fell 17.8 percent to $36.5 billion, a drop from August's 16 percent decline. US commodity imports fell 20.6% from a year earlier to $ 10.6 billion, a slight improvement from August's 22% decline. US President Donald Trump on Friday agreed to postpone this week's tariff increase on Chinese imports. In return, he said, Beijing had agreed to buy up to $ 50 billion in US agricultural goods. But they have not reported any agreements on disputes over China's trade surplus and technology policies that led to their 15-month dispute.
The tariff increases have affected billions of dollars in each other's goods, directly affecting manufacturers and farmers on both sides, and disrupted supply chains around the world. The uncertainty has prompted some companies to postpone investments, adding to the pressure on global economic growth and fueling financial market concerns.
Today's data showed China's global exports fell 1.4% from a year earlier to $ 218.1 billion. Imports fell 5.8% to $ 178.5 billion. The recession is increasing pressure on the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping to support cold economic growth and prevent job losses.
China's economic growth fell to its lowest level in at least 26 years in the quarter ending in June, falling to 6.2% from the previous year.
Economists expect the growth rate in the July-September quarter, due to be announced this week, to fall to a low of 5.9%, down from the official target of the ruling Communist Party by a minimum of 6%.
The country's delicate trade surplus with the US shrank by 16.5% from a year earlier, but hit $25.9 billion. Increased exports to Britain, other European countries and developing markets such as Vietnam, helped offset some losses. China's global trade surplus grew 42.2% to $ 39.7 billion. For the first nine months of the year, Chinese imports of US goods fell 26.4% to $ 90.6 billion. Exports to the US fell 10.7% to $ 312 billion.
Trump has postponed raising the tariff on Tuesday for 250 billion dollars of Chinese goods. But Washington still plans to raise tariffs on December 15 on $ 160 billion of smartphones and other imports. Before that, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to attend an economic conference in Chile in mid-November. This raises hopes that the face-to-face meeting may make progress.
In May, the talks collapsed because of Beijing's insistence on Trump's tariffs being lifted once the deal took effect. Washington says some should remain in place to ensure China's compliance. Trump and Xi agreed in June to resume negotiations but did not announce any breakthrough.
