China's exports, imports slowed sharply in August: Data

AFP  |  Beijing 

China's exports and imports rose at a sharply slower pace in August, but its global trade surplus remained stable at USD 27.9 billion amid a heated US trade war, official figures showed Saturday.

Exports from the world's second biggest economy increased by 9.8 per cent while its imports rose by 20 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to customs data.

The figures were well below July's performance, when exports had jumped 12.2 per cent and imports grew 27 per cent.

The US-trade spat escalated on July 6 when US slapped tariffs on USD 34 billion in Chinese goods, triggering a dollar-for-dollar response from

The two sides launched another salvo on August 23, imposing duties on USD 16 billion worth of products from each country.

threatened Friday to slap tariffs on all of the Chinese goods imported into the

Altogether, the US tariffs could ultimately hit more than USD 500 billion in Chinese goods. But will struggle to keep responding in kind as it imports less than USD 200 billion in US goods per year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, September 08 2018. 11:10 IST