China’s U.S.-bound goods fell for an eighth straight month despite a recent trade deal between the two economies, even as overall exports surpassed market expectations in November as manufacturers loaded up shipments to other markets.

Outbound shipments surged 5.9% last month in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, China’s customs data showed Monday, topping economists’ forecast for a 3.8% growth in a Reuters poll. That growth marked a rebound from an unexpected 1.1% drop in October — the first contraction since March 2024.

Imports rose 1.9% last month, missing expectations for a 3% rise, as a protracted housing downturn and rising job insecurity continued to be drag on domestic consumption. Growth was higher compared to 1% in October.

Chinese officials have renewed pledges to expand imports and work toward balancing trade amid widespread criticism against its aggressive exports.

Exports to the U.S. plunged 28.6% in November, marking the eighth straight month of double-digit declines in shipments to the world’s largest consumer market, even after President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump reached a deal in South Korea in late October. Imports from America shrank 19% from a year earlier.

“Despite the trade truce, the U.S. still imposes higher tariffs on China than on [many] other countries,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis, adding that Chinese exporters have likely continued to utilize their facilities in third markets to export to the U.S. “It can become a future norm,” Ng noted.

Levies on Chinese goods remain at around 47.5% according to Peterson Institute for International Economics. Beijing’s tariffs on imports from the U.S. stand at around 32%.

So far this year, China’s exports to the U.S. have declined 18.9% year on year, while imports have dropped 13.2%.

Shrinking U.S. exports in November were more than offset by surging shipments to other markets, particularly China’s two largest trading blocs, the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. China’s exports to ASEAN and the EU rose over over 8% and nearly 15%, respectively.

In the first 11 months this year, China’s overall exports grew 5.4% compared to the same period in 2024 while imports fell 0.6%, taking its trade surplus to $1.076 trillion this year as of November, up 21.6% year on year.

Following the trade truce struck in October, Beijing and Washington agreed to roll back steep tariffs on each other’s goods, export controls for critical minerals and advanced technology, with China committing to buying more American soybeans and working with Washington to crack down on fentanyl flows.

China’s exports of rare earths accelerated in November, as it shipped out 5,494 tons of the critical minerals, up 24% from a year earlier and compared with 4,343.5 tons in October. The Ministry of Commerce has reportedly been designing a new rare earth licensing regime that could expedite shipments.

The country’s overall soybean imports grew 13% from a year earlier to 8.1 million metric tons in November, although down from the October level, signaling a slow start to fulfilling its promise of purchasing 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans by year-end.

China’s factory activity shrank for an eighth month in November, an official manufacturing survey showed, with new orders staying in contraction. A private survey focused on exporters showed manufacturing activity unexpectedly fell into contraction.

The Wall Street bank expects Chinese authorities to lift the augmented fiscal deficit ceiling by 1 percentage point of GDP, cut policy rates by a total of 20 basis points and step up stimulus measures to rein in the housing slump.

The strengthening yuan in recent weeks has not appeared to stem the flow of China’s exports. The offshore yuan has strengthened nearly 5% since April to 7.0669 per dollar at market open on Monday, according to LSEG data.

Despite a steady 5% annual GDP growth since 2023, China “urgently needs to curb its export dependence and pivot towards domestic consumption to ensure sustainable expansion,” Weijian Shan, chief executive of private equity firm PAG, said in an opinion piece last month.

A stronger yuan could boost consumption’s contribution to economic growth to the 2023 level of 86% from currently 53%, as it would lower costs of imports and enhance household purchasing power, Shan added.