Shipments of goods out of China slumped in April, including a big decline in exports to the United States, as President Trump imposed sky-high tariffs.
Chinese government data released on Friday offered a peek into how the trade war is already reordering the flow of goods around the world.
Exports from China jumped last month, driven by trade to other countries in Southeast Asia, even as President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods forced a sharp slowdown in shipments to the United States.
Inside China, imports fell as demand continued to weaken.
The trade numbers released on Friday capture activity in April, when tensions between the United States and China escalated more rapidly than expected. In a series of measures, President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent, and China responded with 125 percent levies on American goods.
As a result, Chinese shipments to the United States plunged by 21 percent compared with the same period a year earlier. But Chinese exports to Southeast Asian countries surged by 21 percent.
“This is an early signal that something is going on in terms of a front-loading of the supply chain,” said Raymond Yeung, the chief economist for greater China for ANZ, a New Zealand bank. “It’s a redirection of trade that is already well documented,” he said.
Chinese exports to countries like Vietnam and Thailand have soared, Mr. Yeung said, while data on imports from Taiwan and South Korea suggested that Chinese factories are taking advantage of a 90-day pause in tariffs on countries across the region to complete orders destined for the United States.