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China’s exports rebound ahead of Trump-Xi summit

May 10, 2026, 6:17pm EDT
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Shipping containers at Yangshan Port outside Shanghai
Go Nakamura/Reuters

China’s exports rebounded in April as overseas buyers rushed to stockpile goods in the second month of the Iran war.

The data also showed Beijing’s trade surplus widened, just ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China later this week. Trump has taken issue with the surplus.

The leaders are expected to cover trade, Iran, and AI, senior US officials said Sunday, but they tempered expectations of major investment deals.

An “underlying asymmetry will persist” in the superpowers’ uneasy economic détente, a Council on Foreign Relations expert argued, with Beijing feeling it has an advantage because of its dominance in critical minerals.

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