China’s exports, declining 2.2% in November from a year earlier, fell for the first time in seven years, Bloomberg reported. Imports plunged 17.9%, pushing the trade surplus to a record 40.09 billion USD. China’s leaders pledged “more forceful measures” to help small companies and create jobs in statements within hours of the trade report. The export collapse intensifies pressure on the government to add to last month’s steepest interest-rate cut in 11 years, extend a 4 trillion CNY (581 billion USD) spending plan and let the yuan depreciate.
