China’s foreign minister Wang Yi criticised US President Donald Trump as “two-faced” over escalating trade tensions, as official data showed the country’s export growth decelerated and imports fell into contraction in the first two months of 2025.
Figures released by China’s customs administration on Friday showed exports expanded 2.3 per cent in dollar terms in January and February compared with the same period last year, while imports shrank 8.4 per cent.
The figures, which combined data for two months because of the lunar new year holiday, were a marked decline from 10.7 per cent growth for exports in December and a 1 per cent expansion for imports.
They also trailed forecasts from economists polled by Reuters, who had projected 5 per cent export growth and imports to hold steady at a 1 per cent expansion.
Wang on Friday said Trump’s friendly rhetoric towards his counterpart Xi Jinping would not negate increasingly bitter trade relations. “No country should fantasise about suppressing and containing China while simultaneously developing good relations,” he told a press conference.
“Such two-faced behaviour not only undermines the stability of bilateral relations but also makes it impossible to build mutual trust,” Wang added. “This is not the behaviour of a responsible major power.”
The Trump administration has imposed an additional 20 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports, with a first 10 per cent levy coming into effect on February 4, and the second 10 per cent beginning Tuesday.
China has retaliated by targeting US agricultural and energy exports, as well as imposing export controls and security measures on American companies.
Export strength has helped Beijing offset economic weaknesses over the past year, and economists have warned that trade turmoil will compound Chinese policymakers’ challenges to keep growth on track as they grapple with a prolonged property sector slowdown and lagging domestic demand.
Exports to the US rose 2.3 per cent during the first two months of the year, as Chinese companies rushed to ship goods to the US before the full measure of the additional tariffs took effect.
“The damage of higher US tariffs on China’s exports will likely show up in [the] next month,” said Zhiwei Zhang, president of Pinpoint Asset Management. “While the tech sector in China is booming, domestic demand is still weak as the property sector downturn has not ended.”
China’s Premier Li Qiang this week outlined an ambitious GDP growth target of “around 5 per cent” for 2025 at delegates gathered in Beijing for the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.
He said Beijing would increase fiscal spending to help meet that goal and would work to strengthen consumer demand. Wang noted that China achieved its growth target for 2024, which was the same, despite “unilateral sanctions and suppression” from the US.
He also expressed confidence in Europe as a “trusted partner”, even as differences have arisen with the continent over Beijing’s tacit support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its human-rights abuses in Xinjiang.
China’s imports from the EU declined 5.6 per cent year on year during the first two months of 2025, while exports rose 0.6 per cent.
Zhang Yansheng, lead researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges think-tank, said Trump’s disruption of traditional trading relationships was creating opportunities for EU-China co-operation, noting he hoped a long-delayed investment treaty could be resurrected.
“This is the moment for Europe to think clearly and put away ideology,” he said, calling for the sides to “reassess relations and work together for global economic growth, security and development”.