From West to Rest: China’s Trade Strategy in a Fragmenting World

Latest trade data from H1 2025 reveals a world in flux, where shifting export patterns are rewriting the geopolitical playbook.

📉 China’s exports to the United States fell by $10.7B, driven by intensifying tariff turmoil, rising political risk premiums, and reshoring initiatives. With new U.S. tariffs under consideration on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, trade tensions are set to escalate in sectors that underpin global competitiveness and national security.

📉 Exports to Russia also dropped by $8.7B, likely due to growing sanctions pressure and compliance risks.

But there’s another side to the story:

📈 Africa: +$21.4B, the largest regional increase

📈 India: +$14B

📈 ASEAN: $322.5B in exports, up $13B

📈 Latin America: +$7.3B

🔍 What this tells us: China is accelerating a pivot away from traditional Western markets toward the Global South, fast-growing, resource-rich, and geopolitically less entangled.

This is not just trade.

It is strategy.

And in today’s fragmented world, export flows are increasingly power flows.

At Intrasia Wealth, we integrate macroeconomic, geopolitical, and structural shifts into our investment process for our clients to be positioned not just for today’s markets, but for tomorrow’s world.