China-US trade down 11.1% from Jan-Nov, still ‘positive’ in general – Global Times

China’s November month trade numbers seem to provide a less worrisome signal to Beijing, despite a surprise slump in exports, as Global Times recently released a story highlighting the fact that the trade war with the United States (US) is less harmful.

Key quotes

China's trade with the US plunged 11.1 percent to 3.4 trillion yuan ($483 billion) in the first 11 months of the year as the long-running bilateral trade war continued to batter both sides, according to customs data released on Sunday. The 11-month decline widened from a 10.6 percent contraction in the first 10 months. 

However, China managed to make up for its worsening trade with the US by beefing up trade with other markets, and it achieved what experts described as generally positive trade volume this year. 

From January to November, China's exports to the US slid 8.4 percent to 2.64 trillion yuan, while imports from the US fell 19.5 percent to 763 billion yuan. China's trade surplus with the US narrowed 3 percent on a yearly basis to 1.88 trillion yuan.

In general, China's trade successfully withstood the negative pressure from the trade war in 2019.

It's not easy for China to achieve 2.4 percent trade growth at a time when international trade is slowing significantly.

According to the customs data, China's trade with economies along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative increased 9.9 percent to 8.35 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of this year. Trade with the EU increased by 9.5 percent during the period. 

FX implications

Although initial trading hours in Asia have tamed the market’s response to the news, the headlines will have a negative impact on the trade discussions between the United States (US) and China. This has a higher negative market impact mainly due to the upcoming US tariffs on December 15.