CHINA’S exports are expected to have risen for the first time in four months in November, a poll showed, though a protracted trade row with the United States and slack global demand mean a sure-footed turnaround in shipments is some way off.

Exports by the world’s second-largest economy likely rose 1 percent from a year earlier last month, according to a median estimate from a poll of 20 economists, improving from a 0.9 percent drop in October and marking the first pickup since a 3.3 percent rise in July.

Imports are forecast to have dropped 1.8 percent from a year earlier in November, also a slower rate of decline from the 6.4 percent slump the month before, the poll showed.

China and the United States remain locked in weeks of negotiations to ink an interim “phase one” trade deal aimed at de-escalating the 17-month-long dispute that has led to tit-for-tat tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that trade talks are “going well,” a day after spooking markets with a warning that the deal might have to wait until after the November 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

The trade row has weakened corporate profits, investment and global growth.

The United States has given no indication that it plans to scrap new tariffs on US$156 billion in Chinese imports scheduled for Dec. 15, which could torpedo the negotiations. (SD-Agencies)