China in September 2026: the most important developments in economy
In China in September 2026, the economic news was dominated by trade with the United States. During Xi Jinping's visit to Washington, the two countries agreed on September 24 to extend their tariff truce until January 10, and by September 26 Beijing said they had agreed to cut tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods each and to open a communication channel for AI incidents. On September 28 the two sides published lists of goods for tariff cuts, from toys and lumber to meat and coal, valued at $60 billion in total. Trade teams led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Vice Premier He Lifeng met in New York from September 20. China also said it opposes the new US sanctions law on Russia and Iran and unilateral sanctions on Iranian airlines.
On the domestic economy, exports rose 25% in August and the trade surplus for the year reached nearly $806 billion. Consumer prices rose 0.8% year-on-year in August. China announced a capital injection of between $54 billion and $68 billion into state-owned banks and insurers. Second-hand home prices fell in all 70 tracked cities, and the central bank kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for a 16th month. The yuan reached its strongest level since 2022. Industrial profits rose 15.7% in January to August. Solar power overtook coal as the largest source of installed capacity.
Technology drew attention. Huawei unveiled 11 AI chips on September 17 and said demand outstrips supply, DeepSeek and Huawei developed programming tools for Huawei's chips, and Beijing allowed ByteDance and Alibaba to buy new Nvidia chips. China's state security agency warned that AI poses a national security threat. The Pinglu Canal, the first river-to-sea canal, opened. A ship fire in Qingdao killed 25 people. With the EU, China threatened countermeasures on September 30 in a trade dispute, and it announced a 55% additional tariff on Brazilian beef from October 1.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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