Imports in the world’s second-largest economy grew at their fastest pace in more than two years last month and exports are up too. However, the future of Chinese trade will become more apparent when protectionist President Donald Trump enters the White House.
In November, Chinese imports grew 6.7 percent while analyst had predicted a fall.
Imports of commodities including iron ore, oil, coal, soybeans and copper went up even though the central bank continued to depreciate the yuan.
Exports rose 0.1 percent from the same period in 2015 despite a forecast five percent contraction.
The country’s trade surplus was $44.61 billion in November, explained by growing demand both in China and globally.
"The improvement reflects a strengthening in global demand, with recent business surveys suggesting that developed economies are on track to end the year on a strong note," Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Singapore-based Capital Economics said in a note, quoted by Reuters.
"But while global demand has recovered somewhat recently, lower trend growth in many developed and emerging economies mean that further upside is probably limited," the economist added.
This pushes Beijing closer to its target of 6.5-7 percent economic growth this year, something many experts heavily doubted. However, compared to 2015, Chinese imports dropped 6.2 percent, while exports contracted 7.5 percent.
Donald Trump’s presidency may hit US-China trade which brought Beijing $367.11 billion last year. Trump has warned China about possible sanctions for depreciating its currency, and thus hitting American manufacturers.
“Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the U.S. doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?” Trump posted on Twitter Sunday.