China’s Industrial Profits Increase by 3% in April, Surpassing Output Estimates Despite U.S. Tariffs

An employee works on a vehicle crankshaft production line at a factory producing engine parts in Binzhou, in eastern China’s Shandong province on March 14, 2025. Str | Afp | Getty ImagesChina’s industrial profits rose in April from a year earlier, official data showed Tuesday, despite prohibitive U.S. tariffs and persistent deflationary pressures. Cumulative profits at major industrial firms climbed 3% in April after returning to growth in the first quarter of this year, rising 0.8% from a year earlier, reversing the trend of declines since the third quarter of last year. In the first four months of this year, industrial profits rose 1.4%, the data showed.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed significant tariffs of 145% on imports from China last month, prompting Beijing to retaliate, effectively creating a mutual trade embargo between the world’s two largest economies. Both sides agreed to lower most of those levies earlier this month, following a trade truce reached during a meeting between U.S. officials and Chinese leadership in Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. tariffs on goods imported from China have fallen to 51.1%, while China’s tariffs on U.S. imports stand at 32.6%, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

China’s manufacturing activity fell more than expected to a 16-month low in April, with the official purchasing managers’ index coming in at 49.0, sliding into contractionary territory for the first time this year. Retail sales growth slowed to 5.1% from a year earlier, while industrial output expanded 6.1% on a year-over-year basis, highlighting the ongoing supply-demand imbalance in the economy. Exports to the U.S. plummeted over 21% from a year earlier as the substantial tariffs took effect, while overall exports surged 8.1% due to increased shipments to Southeast Asian nations.

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