China's economy grew by 5.4% from January to March, helped by strong exports before the US raised taxes on Chinese goods.

Experts predict that China's economy will slow down a lot soon because of the trade war with the US. The US has put taxes (tariffs) of up to 145% on goods from China. China has also put taxes of up to 125% on American goods, but they say they still want to trade and have investment.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is visiting other Asian countries this week to support free trade. He wants to show that China can bring "stability and certainty" when the world is uncertain.

While Xi visited Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, the U.S. announced that a senior official, Sean O'Neill, would travel this week to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, to Siem Reap in Cambodia, and to Tokyo.

China has also been focusing on trade with countries other than the United States at different trade fairs, showing its large market and strong ability to make things.

Because of exports, China's economy grew by 5% each year in 2024, and the official goal for this year is also around 5%.

Sheng Laiyun from the National Bureau of Statistics said that the new taxes on imports will cause some problems for China's economy in the short term. However, he added that these taxes will not stop the country's growth in the long term. He also mentioned that China now sells much less to the US than it did five years ago.

Sheng said, "China's economy is strong, can deal with difficulties, and has a lot of possibility for growth. We believe we can manage problems from outside and reach our development aims."

From January to March, the economy grew by 1.2%. This was slower than the 1.6% growth in the last three months of 2024.

Chinese exports grew strongly, going up over 12% compared to the previous year in March and almost 6% in U.S. dollars in the first three months. Companies sent goods quickly to avoid new taxes from Trump. This strong growth has helped manufacturing stay busy in recent months.

Stephen Innes from SPI Asset Management said that this happened mostly at the beginning. It was caused by companies acting early because they expected the U.S. to increase taxes on goods, and by importers in the U.S. buying a lot of products quickly to be prepared for the changes.

Industrial production went up 6.5% compared to the same period last year. This was mainly because equipment manufacturing increased by almost 11%.

Growth was strongest in new technologies like electric and hybrid cars, which increased by 45.4% in a year. The production of 3D printers rose by almost 45%, and industrial robots increased by 26%.

Although the Chinese economy has grown quite fast compared to other countries, it has had difficulty getting stronger again since the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because problems in the housing market have caused more people to lose their jobs, which has made families hesitant to spend money.

Prices for consumers dropped a little in the first three months of the year, which suggests that people are not buying as much as companies are making. Also, people did not invest much in property like houses and buildings. This kind of investment went down by almost 10% compared to last year, even though the government tried to help people get loans to buy houses.

The problem with tariffs is a big new difficulty for Beijing, which is trying to encourage companies to invest, hire staff, and persuade people to spend more money.

Economists in both private and public companies have been careful about what they expect, because Trump has often changed his mind about the details of his trade war.

Tao Wang and other UBS economists said in a report that it is very hard to know how the taxes the U.S. and China put on each other will change, because of what has happened in the last two weeks.

The International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank still think the economy will grow by about 4.6% this year. They are more hopeful about this.

After becoming president, Trump first increased taxes on goods from China by 10%. Later, he doubled that increase to 20%. Currently, China has to pay 145% in taxes on most things it sends to the United States.

UBS thinks that if the current taxes on goods stay similar, China's sales to the US could go down by two-thirds in the next few months. They also believe that China's total sales to other countries might decrease by 10% in value. Because of this, UBS has reduced its guess for China's economic growth this year from 4% to 3.4%. They also think growth will slow down to 3% in 2026.

Over the last seven months, China has worked harder to encourage people to spend more and businesses to invest. They have given more money to people who trade in old cars and appliances for new ones. They have also provided more money for housing and other industries that needed financial help.