China's economy grew by 5.4% from January to March, the government said. This growth was helped by selling a lot of goods to other countries before the U.S. put higher taxes on Chinese products.

Because of the trade war, experts think China's economy will grow much slower. China and the U.S. are putting high taxes on each other's goods. China says it still wants to trade with other countries.

China's leader, Xi Jinping, is visiting some other Asian countries this week. He is talking about free trade and says China can help make things stable and sure when times are difficult.

Xi visited Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia. This week, Sean O'Neill from the U.S. government will visit Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Siem Reap in Cambodia, and Tokyo.

China wants to trade more with countries that are not the US. It shows this at trade fairs. These fairs show its big market and its ability to make many things well.

Exports helped China's economy grow by 5% in 2024. This year, the goal is also around 5%.

A Chinese official said the new taxes will make China's economy a little harder now, but they will not stop it from getting bigger later. He also said that China sells fewer things to the US now than it did five years ago.

China's economy is strong and can handle problems. It also has a good future. We are sure we can deal with difficulties from outside and reach our goals, Sheng said.

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

China sold many more goods to other countries in March than last year. Businesses wanted to sell things before the new taxes from the U.S. President started. This helped factories make many goods in the last few months.

Stephen Innes said that this happened mostly at the beginning. Companies bought a lot because they thought the US would raise taxes on their goods. American importers also bought many things to keep in storage so they would be ready.

Making things in factories went up by 6.5% compared to last year. This happened mostly because making machines and tools increased by almost 11%.

Sales of new technology went up a lot. For example, making electric and hybrid cars grew by 45.4% in one year. Making 3D printers increased by almost 45%, and making factory robots went up by 26%.

Even though China's economy grew quite quickly compared to other countries, it has found it hard to get strong again after COVID-19. Problems in the housing market have made more people lose their jobs, so families are careful with their money.

Prices for things people buy went down a little, by 0.1%, in the first three months of the year. This may mean that people are not buying as much as companies are making. Also, people did not invest much money in houses and buildings. This investment went down by almost 10% compared to last year, even though the government tried to help people borrow more money to buy houses.

The problem with import taxes is coming. This will be bad for China because it is trying to get companies to invest and hire more people. It also wants people to spend more money.

Economists in companies and the government are still careful about what will happen because Trump keeps changing his ideas about his trade war.

Because of what happened recently, it is very hard to know how the taxes between the U.S. and China might change, said Tao Wang and other experts from UBS in a report.

Big financial groups like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank still think the economy will grow by about 4.6% this year.

When Trump became president, he first put a 10% tax on things coming from China. Later, he made it 20%. Now, China has to pay a 145% tax on many things they sell to the United States.

UBS thinks that if the taxes on goods stay the same, China will sell much less to the US and less to other countries. It now thinks China's economy will grow by a smaller amount this year, and even less in 2026.

In the last seven months, China has worked harder to get people to spend more money and companies to invest. They gave more money to help people buy new cars and appliances when they traded in old ones. They also gave more money for homes and other businesses that needed help.