As exporters scrambled to get items out of factory gates before new US tariffs were imposed, China reported Wednesday that its economy grew 5.4 percent in the first quarter, exceeding forecasts.
Ever since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff attack that has specifically targeted Chinese imports, Beijing and Washington have been engaged in a fast-paced, high-stakes game of brinkmanship.
In tit-for-tat transactions, Beijing has established a retaliatory 125 percent tariff on US imports, while the US has increased its duties on China to 145 percent.
A first look at how those trade war concerns are impacting the Asian giant’s already precarious recovery—which was already being strained by stubbornly low consumption and a debt problem in the real estate market—was provided by official data released on Wednesday.
“Preliminary estimates indicate that the gross domestic product in the first quarter… (was) up by 5.4 percent year on year at constant prices,” stated Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
That was higher than the 5.1 percent forecast by analysts AFP surveyed prior to the data publication.
Additionally, industrial output jumped from 5.7 percent in the last three months of 2024 to 6.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Additionally, the NBS reported that retail sales, a crucial indicator of consumer demand, increased 4.6% annually.
However, Beijing cautioned that more was required to increase growth and consumption because the economy was growing more “complex and severe” generally.
The NBS stated that “more proactive and effective macro policies” were required, adding that “the foundation for sustained economic recovery and growth is yet to be consolidated.”
