China's April exports fell 2.7% from a year ago amid the country's tariff war with Washington, while imports rebounded to 4% growth.

The data reported Wednesday come ahead of a new round of talks aimed at ending the fight with the Trump administration over Beijing's technology ambitions.

The export figure was a striking decline from March's 14.2% growth and reflected weakening global demand as well as U.S. tariff hikes on Chinese goods.

Imports recovered from the previous month's 7.6 % decline in a new sign government efforts to reverse an economic downturn might be gaining traction.