China’s exports soared in October and its trade surplus ballooned, official data showed on Thursday, just days after Donald Trump won the US presidential election with promises of sweeping tariffs to suppress imports from China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called Trump on Thursday to congratulate him on his electoral victory, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. Xi told Trump that trade between the world’s two largest economies would “benefit from co-operation and suffer from confrontation”, it reported.
But the bumper export figures are expected to inflame tensions between Trump’s incoming administration and Beijing, which could respond to aggressive new tariffs with bigger stimulus action and a sharp depreciation of the renminbi, said analysts and bankers.