China’s April exports jump 14.1% ahead of planned Trump–Xi talks in Beijing

HONG KONG — China’s exports rose 14.1% in April from a year earlier, the government said Saturday, delivering a sharp acceleration from March and arriving days before a planned meeting next week between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

The increase beat analysts’ estimates and marked a significant improvement from March’s 2.5% year-on-year expansion. Exports to the United States climbed 11.3% from a year earlier, rebounding from a 26.5% drop in March. Imports rose 25.3%, easing from March’s 27.8% pace but remaining robust.

The planned Trump–Xi summit comes as relations are strained across multiple fronts, with efforts to end the Iran war overshadowing customary trade and technology frictions. Economists said external demand remains a key support.

“We’re expecting that overall external demand will remain a solid driver of growth this year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, pointing to semiconductors and autos as likely bright spots. In March, Chinese leaders set an annual growth target of 4.5% to 5%, slightly below last year’s 5% expansion and the lowest goal since 1991.

Recent months have seen stronger shipments to Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, helping offset weakness in some developed markets. China’s exports to the U.S. have fallen for most months since Trump imposed steeper tariffs and tighter technology controls after he took office last year.

Even so, Song said trade with the U.S. is likely improving this year, citing base effects from sharp declines following tariff hikes in 2025. Beyond attempts to broker a peace agreement to end the Iran war, trade and export controls — including rare earths and U.S.

technology restrictions on China — are expected to feature at the summit. The talks follow a yearlong U.S.-China trade truce reached late last year, when the two leaders last met in South Korea. Major breakthroughs on export controls are unlikely, but the meeting may yield “incremental” steps to reduce friction, HSBC economists wrote in a recent note.

“On balance, China looks to have more leverage,” said Leah Fahy, senior China economist at Capital Economics. “But higher tariffs haven’t stopped China’s exports from continuing to surge over the past year, and Beijing has showed that it is prepared to wait out U.S.

pressure.” At home, higher oil and fuel prices linked to the Iran war are pushing up manufacturing and logistics costs, said Wei Li, head of multi-asset investments at BNP Paribas Securities (China). Elevated global inflation could also weigh on consumer demand in China’s overseas markets.

Still, analysts said China’s economy has remained comparatively resilient, citing large oil reserves and more diversified energy sources. Song added that China’s trade surplus, which reached an all-time high of almost $1.2 trillion last year, could narrow in 2026 as imports have been stronger so far this year.

Even with external strength, the country is still contending with a prolonged property slump that has pressured consumption and investment.