China’s export growth slowed to the lowest in six months in August 2025, as Beijing went on to ship less to the US because of the tariff tensions.
Apparently, the exports from China rose by 4.4% YoY as per the official figures, which is less than what the economists had expected and also down from the better-than-expected 7.2% increase in July 2025. Interestingly, the imports grew by 1.3%; however, they were down from a 4.1% growth in July 2025.
The exports from China, especially, the shipments from Beijing to the US fell 33%, while the exports to Southeast Asian nations grew by 22.5%. It is well to be noted that the policymakers want manufacturers to move towards other markets due to the erratic trade policy by Donald Trump.
It is worth noting that President Trump went on to delay the sweeping tariffs on China in mid-August and announced a 90-day pause just hours before the last agreement between the two largest economies of the world was due to expire.
Apparently, Trump had gone on to threaten tariffs on China that were as high as 245%, with China going ahead and also threatening retaliatory tariffs of 125%. However, the Chinese imports happen to be subject to a baseline tariff of 10% and an extra 20% levy in response to fentanyl smuggling charges levied against them. There are certain products that are taxed at much higher rates.
The trade surplus of China grew to $102.3bn in August 2025 from $98.2bn in July 2025; however, they were well below $114.8bn, which was recorded in June 2025. Analysts are playing the waiting game to see if the officials are going to roll out extra fiscal support measures for the fourth quarter so as to revive the domestic demand.
On the other hand, surprisingly the exports in Germany dipped in July 2025 while the industrial production grew. Shipments from the biggest economy of Europe decreased by almost 0.6% as compared to the month before, against the forecasts by economists of a 0.1% gain. Imports also decreased by 0.1%. Germany’s foreign trade surplus decreased to €14.7bn from €15.4bn in June 2025, compared with €17.7bn, which was witnessed in July 2024.
On a brighter side, German industrial production happened to grow by 1.3% in July 2025.
Oil prices have also seen the surge, recouping some of the recently made losses, after the oil cartel OPEC, as well as allies like Russia, known as OPEC+, went on to agree to raise the output at a slower pace from October 2025 on expectations of weaker worldwide demand. The possibility of more sanctions on Russia, which is a major oil exporter, also grew after the overnight strike by Moscow on Ukraine.
Interestingly, Brent crude increased by 1.5% to $66.45 a barrel.
Recently, there are eight members of OPEC+ who agreed to lift production from October 2025 by 137,000 barrels every day, which, by the way, happens to be far below the monthly raises of 555,000 bpd in September 2025 and August 2025, and also 411,000 bpd in July 2025 and June 2025.
