DECOUPLING: Chinese Exports Fall at Steepest Pace Since February 2020.

China’s exports to the rest of the world tumbled in July, adding to the challenges for the world’s second-largest economy and offering fresh evidence that a drying up of Western demand is hurting Beijing’s attempts to rekindle growth.

After a short-lived rebound in the spring, goods exports from China resumed a long-term slide that dates to October last year, when consumers in Western developed countries began shifting their spending away from buying furniture and electronic gadgets, and instead diverted it toward services such as entertainment and dining out.

Worsening geopolitical tensions between Beijing and the U.S.-led West have also prompted some Western manufacturers to reduce their reliance on China’s supply chain, which in turn is expected to erode trade ties between the two sides.
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Compared with those of a year earlier, China’s exports to the U.S. and European Union plunged by more than 20% each last month. There was a lone bright spot: Chinese shipments to Russia soared in July, calculations from the customs data show.

Russia is a poor substitute for the entire West.