Sawt Falasteen - Chinese economy faces rising international 'uncertainty', official says

Beijing set an ambitious annual growth target of around five percent on Wednesday, vowing to make domestic demand its main economic driver as an escalating trade war with the United States hit exports.

US President Donald Trump imposed more blanket tariffs on Chinese imports this week, following a similar move last month.

However, China has "full confidence" that it can reach its growth goal this year, Zheng Shanjie, Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference.

"We have the basic support and guarantee of achieving this year's growth target of around five percent," Zheng said.

"We have full confidence in this," he said.

Zheng, speaking on the sidelines of Beijing's annual "Two Sessions" political meetings, acknowledged that "uncertainty in the external environment is further increasing".

He also said "we are also facing some problems such as insufficient domestic demand, production and operation difficulties in some industries and some enterprises".

"However, we feel that these difficulties and challenges are in the process of development and progress, and they can all be overcome and solved," Zheng said.

China's headline growth figure, announced by Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday at an annual Communist Party conclave, was broadly in line with an AFP survey of analysts, although experts say it is ambitious considering the scale of China's economic challenges.

The world's second-largest economy has struggled to regain its footing since the Covid-19 pandemic, as domestic consumption flags and a persistent debt crisis in the vast property sector drags on.

Trump's latest round of tariffs has added to the hurdles China faces.

Those levies are expected to hit hundreds of billions of dollars in total trade between the world's two largest economies.

Beijing announced its own measures on Tuesday in retaliation to Washington's latest tariff hike and vowed it would fight a trade war to the "bitter end".

The moves will see China impose levies of up to 15 percent on a range of US agricultural products including soybeans, pork and wheat starting from early next week.

V.Said--SF-PST