China Exports Surge, Trade Surplus With U.S. Widens Ahead of Trump Visit

China’s trade numbers surged in April even as tensions with Washington stayed high, giving Beijing a fresh burst of leverage heading into Donald Trump’s planned visit next week. The country posted a $84.8 billion trade surplus for the month, up from $51.13 billion in March, as exports accelerated and overseas buyers rushed to secure goods before costs rose further.

The General Administration of Customs said China’s foreign trade reached 4.38 trillion yuan, or $639.4 billion, in April, a record in yuan terms. Exports climbed 9.8% to 2.48 trillion yuan, while imports rose 20.6% to 1.9 trillion yuan. In dollar terms, exports rose 14.1% from a year earlier, beating expectations and picking up from March’s pace.

Imports rose even faster than exports because higher oil and natural-gas prices lifted the value of purchases abroad. The disruption tied to the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushed up energy and freight costs, while businesses also stockpiled components in case input prices climbed further. That dynamic helped drive a stronger import bill without blunting the export rebound.

The United States remained the most politically sensitive part of the picture. China’s exports to the U.S. rose 11.3% year on year in April after a sharp drop in March, but China still recorded a trade surplus with the United States of nearly $20.5 billion for the month. Over the first four months of 2026, bilateral trade between the two countries fell 10.4% from a year earlier, to $179.2 billion, underscoring how sharply the relationship has been strained even as China continues to ship large volumes of goods westward.

The April figures reinforced China’s role as the world’s largest trading nation and a stabilizer of global commerce, particularly in mechanical and electrical products that remain in steady demand. They also highlighted a central contradiction in U.S.-China relations: even with higher tariffs, strategic rivalry and political friction building ahead of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, American demand for Chinese goods has not disappeared. Instead, it has remained resilient enough to widen the surplus at a moment when the economic stakes of the meeting are rising fast.