Despite U.S. tariffs, China’s exports rise | Photo source: Cheng Xin
Even in the first month after President Donald Trump reached goods with more than 100% tariffs, export growth in the U.S. is rising, a growth for the domestic economy, a domestic economy increasingly relies on foreign demand.
Total exports rose 8.1% last month, higher than economists’ forecast for growth of 2%. U.S. goods fell by 21% after tariffs were imposed in early April. Imports fell by 0.2%, creating a $96 billion trade surplus.
The first official hard data escalation after the trade war has captured only the initial damage from high-priced tariffs, and the impact may become more noticeable starting this month. Many analysts expect that unless taxes are reduced, it reached nearly $690 billion last year, and trade between the world’s two largest economies will eventually drop to negligible levels, reducing industries and increasing prices for companies and consumers.
Since Trump took office this year, U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet this weekend. The company hopes that the two parties will eventually negotiate to reduce the levy imposed by each other.
A trade depression between rival superpowers will be harmful to both economies, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling the current tariffs “unsustainable.”
Bessent and his team will begin negotiations with a delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister on Saturday to discuss the direction forward.
The parties have already abandoned their strong stance before negotiations, which may indicate that it is difficult to make rapid progress on any deal. On Thursday, hours after Trump said he was reluctant to lower China’s taxes to unlock more substantial negotiations, Beijing repeated its request for the United States to cancel all its taxes.
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Published on May 9, 2025
