China’s trade with the US continued to drop from January to April amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with the total value of China-US trade down 12.8 percent to 958.46 billion yuan ($135.07 billion). China’s imports from the US slid 3 percent, while exports plunged 15.9 percent, official data showed on Thursday.

China’s trade surplus with the US was 446.1 billion yuan in the first four months, a decrease of 21.9 percent, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed.

While a negative growth in bilateral trade reflects the unavoidable impact of COVID-19, it’s still worth noting that a slight increase from the previous quarter shows China has been implementing the phase one trade deal even amid the pandemic, Wang Jun, chief economist at Zhongyuan Bank, told the Global Times on Thursday.

In the first quarter, China-US bilateral trade dropped 18.3 percent year-on-year to 668 billion yuan. China’s imports from the US slid 1.3 percent, while exports plunged 23.6 percent.

The slump in bilateral trade is also down to the fact that US trade policies toward China are becoming harsher alongside the escalation of the global pandemic. Recent groundless attacks on China by US officials, including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, over the origin of the deadly virus will inevitably add uncertainty to the phase one deal, said experts.

Experts also urged the US to stop slandering China and end trade conflicts as soon as possible to focus on business and trade exchanges, as the US in particular has encountered great risks of economic recession.

Wang noted that China’s exports to the US may continue to decline in the future, as an economic recession in the US may halve import demand in the country.