China’s Exports to US Fall at Fastest Pace in 5 Years

Outbound shipments to the United States fell 35 percent in May, China’s data showed on June 9, hours before a new round of trade negotiations began in London.

A container ship arrives at the port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on May 21, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

China’s exports grew at a slower-than-expected pace in May, with shipments to the United States suffering their steepest decline in more than five years, according to customs data released on June 9.

Overall, the value of China’s exports rose by 4.8 percent in U.S. dollar terms in May from a year earlier, data from the Chinese customs agency show. The figure fell short of Reuters’ forecast of 5 percent growth.

Shipments to the United States plummeted by 34.5 percent in dollar terms in May from a year earlier, according to The Epoch Times’ calculation of official data. The figure marks the largest monthly fall since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt global supply chains.

Lynn Song, ING Economics’ chief economist for Greater China, said in a note that May’s figures were likely to be affected by the peak tariff period.

“We could see import front-loading amid the still elevated risk that tariffs could once again move higher in light [of] the uncertainty about trade talks over the past month,” Song said.

He also mentioned that China’s acceleration of exports to countries outside the United States helped to prop up overall export figures.

Exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations surged by 14.8 percent in May from a year earlier, with countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia seeing significant increases in imports from China.

Exports to Africa and the European Union remained strong, with year-on-year growth of 33 percent and 14.7 percent, respectively.

On the import side, China saw a 3.4 percent decrease in May compared to the previous year, which was sharper than the 0.9 percent decline analysts had expected.

That leaves China’s total trade surplus standing at over $103 billion, customs data show.

Trade Talks

The latest official data were released just hours before a high-stakes meeting between senior trade and economic officials from China and the United States in London.

According to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua, trade negotiations kicked off on the afternoon of June 9, local time, with the Chinese delegation headed by He Lifeng, China’s economic czar.

The U.S. team is led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump said last week.

Following their previous discussions in Geneva in May, both countries agreed to scale back the hefty tariffs they had imposed on each other.

As part of the agreement that took effect on May 14, Washington reduced tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent, while Beijing slashed its tariffs from 125 percent to 10 percent. Although the trade truce is temporary, lasting 90 days, it provided much-needed relief for Chinese manufacturers and exporters.

After the announcement of the deal, containers began to pile up at China’s Yantian International Container Terminal, the port that handles more than a quarter of U.S.-bound cargo. According to freight-tech firm Vizion, average weekly bookings from China to the United States spiked by 277 percent in the week leading up to May 14.

Chinese economic czar He Lifeng (C) visits the farm of a local breeder in Harquency, northern France, on May 13, 2025 Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images

Among the topics on the agenda for the latest round of bilateral trade negotiations is China’s rare earth export control, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.

“Those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is higher than it was but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva,” Hassett said during a June 8 appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

After a call between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on June 5, the U.S. president announced that the dispute over China’s rare earth export restrictions had been resolved.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t mention the rare earth exports in its summary of the talks between the two leaders.

On June 7, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated that it had approved a number of licenses for rare earth export applications, without specifying which countries or industries received them.

According to The Epoch Times’s calculation of the latest customs data, the volume of China’s rare earth exports fell by 5.6 percent from the previous year.

The figures do not differentiate among the 17 rare earth elements, some of which are not on the export restriction list. The export control measures announced in April require exporters of seven rare earth metals—dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, samarium, scandium, terbium, and yttrium—to apply for special licenses for shipment.

China’s ruling communist party also has a record of withholding data deemed harmful to its image. In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, a government employee in Guangdong, China’s export hub, recounted how authorities manipulated animal farming statistics to meet economic growth targets.