A cargo ship carries foreign trade containers on the Jiaozhou Bay waterway in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, on August 5, 2025.
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
China’s export growth in July sharply beat market expectations as the clock on a tariff truce with the U.S. keeps ticking, while imports rose to their highest in a year.
Exports climbed 7.2% in July in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, customs data showed Thursday, exceeding Reuters-polled economists’ estimates of a 5.4% rise.
Imports rose 4.1% last month from a year earlier, marking the biggest jump since July 2024, according to LSEG data. The data also indicated a recovery in import levels following June’s 1.1% rebound. Economists had forecast imports in July to fall 1.0%, according to a Reuters poll.
On a year-to-date basis, China’s overall exports jumped 6.1% from a year earlier, while imports fell 2.7%, customs data showed. China’s trade surplus this year, as of July, reached $683.5 billion, 32% higher than the same period in 2024.
China’s exports have supported the economy “strongly” so far this year, said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, cautioning that the momentum of businesses’ shipment front-loading may soon fade.
In July, China’s factory activity unexpectedly deteriorated to a three-month low with the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index falling to 49.3 from 49.7 in June, missing expectations for 49.7.
The U.S. and Chinese negotiators have yet to strike an agreement that would keep the triple-digit tariffs at bay as the truce expires on Aug.12.
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