• China's top leaders stress 'strengthening domestic demand'  as economic priority for 2026

ISTANBUL

China's exports rebounded in November, boosted by a temporary agreement with the US over tariffs and other economic disputes.

According to data from China's General Administration of Customs, exports rose 5.9% year-on-year to $330.3 billion in November.

The new data came same day when the Communist Party of China's (CPC) top leadership stressed that boosting domestic demand for next year should be a priority for the economic team, state-run Xinhua News reported.

Exports have declined by 1.1% in October due to escalating trade tensions between the US and China over tariff issues and other economic disputes.

Imports during the same period rose by 1.9% year-on-year to $218.6 billion after another increase of 1% in October.

The country's foreign trade surplus for November was $111.6 billion.

In addition, the trade surplus during the 11 months exceeded $1 trillion threshold.

For the next year, "it is essential to adhere to domestic demand as the main driver, building a strong domestic market, and adhere to innovation-driven development, adhere to reform and tackling key challenges," the politburo of the CPC said after a meeting chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday.

The 24-member top decision-making body of the party emphasized "opening up to the outside world, promoting win-win cooperation in multiple fields."

It called for maintaining "more proactive fiscal policy" as well as "increasing cross-cyclical adjustments, and effectively improving the efficiency of macroeconomic governance."

Tensions with the US, following the Beijing administration's imposition of new restrictions in October on the export of rare earth elements, which make up a large part of its global supply, were reflected in foreign trade.

US President Donald Trump announced that, in response to China's actions on rare earth elements, the US would impose a 100% additional tariff on China starting November 1 and would also halt all exports of critical software.

The tension between the two countries had led to a temporary truce with positive messages from the meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on October 30.

During the meeting, the two countries announced that they had agreed to postpone the 24% additional tariffs they had imposed on each other under “reciprocal tariffs” for one year, starting November 10.