China April exports rebound strongly, trade surplus widens ahead of Trump visit

 
Gantry cranes stand near stacked shipping containers at Yangshan Port outside Shanghai, China, May 7, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura Purchase Licensing Rights

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LONDON/BEIJING, May 9 (Reuters) - China's export growth gathered pace in April as factories raced to meet a wave of orders from AI-related industries and other buyers seeking to stockpile components amid fears the Iran war could push global ​input costs even higher.

That export strength, which has seen China's trade surplus with the U.S. widen to $87.7 billion ‌so far this year, will be in focus next week as President Donald Trump travels to Beijing for a leaders' summit expected to extend last year's trade truce.

While Chinese exporters have so far weathered the fallout from the Middle East conflict economists warn that the longer the war ​drags on and energy prices rise, the greater the risk that external demand fades away -- leaving sluggish domestic ​consumption unable to plug the gap.

For now economists are watching the pace of the AI manufacturing ⁠boom and whether shipments of related equipment can keep the Chinese export engine purring.

"The conflict in the Middle East pushed ​up demand for global manufacturing inventory replenishment, and under the upward cycle of semiconductors, imports and exports maintained a boom," according ​to Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ.