Imports from US shrink, strengthening Beijing’s resolve to resist concessions.

China’s overseas shipments rose from a year earlier, narrowly missing estimates, the latest sign that Asian trade is holding up on robust external demand

The first China-U.S. Comprehensive Economic Dialogue yielded no tangible results. But the two powers have plenty of room for agreement – if they can put their sense of exceptionalism aside.

China devalued the yuan on Tuesday after a run of poor economic data, guiding the currency to its lowest point in almost three years in a move it billed as free-market reform. The central bank described it as a "one-off depreciation" of nearly 2 percent, based on a new way of managing the exchange rate that better reflected market forces, but economists said the timing suggested it was also aimed at helping exporters.