China's foreign trade up 5.6% in April despite US tariffs

Despite the hefty tariffs that Washington slapped against Beijing, China's total goods imports and exports climbed 2.4 percent year-on-year to 14.14 trillion yuan ($1.95 trillion) in the first four months of the year, customs data showed on Friday.

In the January-April period, exports surged 7.5 percent year-on-year to 8.39 trillion yuan, though imports declined 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 5.75 trillion yuan, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

In April alone, the country's total foreign trade witnessed a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percent and came in at 3.84 trillion yuan. In particular, exports grew 9.3 percent from a year ago to 2.27 trillion yuan and imports edged up 0.8 percent to 1.57 trillion yuan, according to the data.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained China's biggest trading partner in the first four months, with the two sides' trade in goods rising 9.2 percent year-on-year to 2.38 trillion yuan. The figure accounted for 16.8 percent of China's total foreign trade value during this period, the data showed.

During the same period, China's trade with the European Union grew 1.1 percent from a year earlier, while the country's trade with the United States declined 2.1 percent year-on-year, the data showed.