China-US

China-US trade growth slowed to 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months the year, compared with the 6.8 percent growth from January to October, data from the Chinese customs showed on Wednesday.

According to data from General Administration of Customs, China-US trade rose by 4.8 percent to 4.62 trillion yuan ($661.72 billion) from January to November, with the US remaining China’s third largest trading partner following ASEAN and the EU.

For the year through November, Chinese exports to the US slowed to a 5.8 percent growth to 3.55 trillion yuan, down from the 8.4 percent recorded for the first 10 months. Imports from the US grew 1.8 percent to 1.07 trillion yuan, down from the 1.7 percent pace recorded in the first 10 months.

The trade surplus with the US rose 7.6 percent to reach 2.48 trillion yuan as of November.

Slower export growth in November comes as a result of the US interest rate hikes which have tempered US’ domestic demand, Tian Yun, a veteran economist based in Beijing told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The Fed raised interest rates early November to a range of 3.75-4 percent, its fourth straight 75-basis-point interest-rate hike and traders now expect a half-point hike from the Fed in a decison next week, Reuters reported.

“With the Fed’s current rate hike cycle, it will cool down goods consumption of American consumers,” Tian said.

The China-US trade is still likely to hit a new high in 2022 despite an ongoing US trade war. Trade between China and the US soared by 28.7 percent to hit $755.6 billion in 2021 - maintaining a strong growth momentum and contributing 12 percent to China's record $6 trillion foreign trade last year.

“It is expected that the China-US trade will reach a new high in 2022,” Tian said.

A report from Bloomberg on Saturday pointed out that if the last few months of this year remain true to prior trends, the US will have imported more goods from China in 2022 than in any year prior, citing US trade data in the first nine months. 

In the first nine months of the year, the US imported $418 billion in goods from China, $23.7 billion more than it did in the same period of 2018, according to the report.

The trade war unilaterally provoked by the US has not affected the growth of China-US trade, which proves the strong driving force behind bilateral trade, experts said, adding that the US business community has been lobbying for the removal of the tariffs and sanctions. 

China-US economic and trade relations are mutually beneficial in nature, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference in November.

Starting a trade war or a technology war, building walls and barriers, and pushing for decoupling and severing supply chains run counter to the principles of market economy and undermine international trade rules, and these actions serve no one’s interests, Zhao said.