THE country’s exports fell at a faster pace in September while imports contracted for a fifth straight month, pointing to further weakness in the economy and underlining the need for more stimulus as the Sino-U.S. trade war drags on.

Following talks last week, U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday outlined the first phase of a deal to end the trade war and suspended a threatened tariff hike set for Oct. 15. But existing tariffs remain in place and officials on both sides said much more work is needed before an accord could be agreed to.

September exports fell 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the biggest fall since February, customs data showed yesterday. Analysts had expected a 3 percent decline in a recent poll after August’s 1 percent drop.

“The headline figures suggest that global demand softened last month, adding to the pressure from the U.S. tariffs that went into effect in September,” said analysts at Capital Economics.

“More tariff hikes took effect in September and will likely weigh on export growth,” according to a report before the data from economists at China International Capital Corp., led by Eva Yi. September saw Washington impose 15 percent tariffs on more than US$125 billion in Chinese imports from Sept. 1.

Some economists attributed the deterioration in exports to a fading in the so-called “front-loading” effect. Some Chinese firms had rushed to ship goods to the United States ahead of the September deadline, supporting overall July and August export readings.

Total September imports fell 8.5 percent after August’s 5.6 percent decline, the lowest since May. Analysts had expected them to fall by 5.2 percent.

Despite more than a year of growth boosting measures, China’s domestic demand has remained weak as economic uncertainty weighs on business and consumer confidence and discourages fresh investment.

China reported a trade surplus of US$39.65 billion last month, compared with a US$34.84 billion surplus in August. Analysts had forecast US$33.3 billion.

Its trade surplus with the United States stood at US$25.88 billion in September, narrowing from August’s US$26.96 billion.

China’s exports to the United States fell 10.7 percent from a year earlier in U.S. dollar terms in the January-September period, while U.S. imports dropped 26.4 percent during that period, the customs data showed.

Though Trump had agreed not to proceed with a hike in tariffs set for Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Trump had not made a decision about tariffs that were subject to go into effect in December.(SD-Agencies)