Declining US Retail Sales Weakens Chinese Export Growth

An aerial view shows a container ship berthed at the container wharf of Qinzhou Port in Qinzhou in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sept. 13, 2022. Zhang Ailin/Xinhua via AP

U.S. retail and food service sales fell 0.6 percent in November (pdf), twice the expected decline and the biggest monthly drop this year. As the largest importer of Chinese goods, lower consumption in the United States directly affects China’s exports.

China’s cumulative export growth in the first 11 months this year is about 30 percent of the same period last year.