China's foreign trade is mixed in April: While exports rise surprisingly despite Corona, imports continue to plummet. Tensions with the United States are also threatening to become a burden.
Beijing (AP) - Despite the global corona virus outbreak, China's exports rose surprisingly in April. As the Beijing customs authority said, exports rose 3.5 percent compared to April last year.
On the other hand, imports declined significantly, falling by 14.2 percent. Analysts had expected a significant decline in both imports and exports.
The stringent measures against the spread of the corona virus had practically brought the Chinese economy to a standstill since late January. The effects were particularly noticeable in February. Then a slow recovery began. However, since the virus has since spread to the rest of the world, global trade is sluggish.
The positive development of export figures shows that China has at least been able to successfully counteract the decline in demand from abroad. The second largest economy is still far from normal.
The economic data from the Chinese service sector, which was also published on Thursday, has recovered more slowly than hoped. The sentiment barometer for the area calculated by the business magazine "Caixin" was 44.4 points in April. That is slightly better than in March. However, a number below 50 points continues to indicate declining activity in the sector.
Observers fear that the increasing tensions between the United States and China could also put an additional burden on trade. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Wednesday evening (local time): "Right now it's a relationship of disappointment and frustration." US President Donald Trump again accused China of not containing the corona virus at its source in Wuhan. "It should have stopped in China. It should have stopped right at the source, and it didn't," Trump criticized the White House.
The United States is holding China up to cover up the origin of the corona virus, which has led to harsh reactions from Chinese diplomats in recent weeks. The dispute could also mean that the trade conflict between the two world powers flared up again.
A weakening economy in China also has noticeable consequences for Germany. The People's Republic is an important sales market for German companies. The export volume last year was 96 billion euros. The second largest economy in the world since 2015 has also been the country from which most imports come to Germany.
It is eagerly awaited whether and which further measures to support the economy will be decided at this year's Beijing People's Congress. Each year the delegates actually meet in March in the Great Hall of the People for their almost two-week plenary session. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the launch date was postponed to May 22 this time. China's economic output shrank in the first quarter since the data was collected.
