New Delhi, April 15 -- The war in West Asia will hurt economies across the globe, with export-oriented ones that depend on global demand for growth all the more vulnerable as world trade gets both choppier and slower.

China's latest trade data, released on Tuesday, bears evidence. Its exports growth slumped to just 2.5% from a year earlier in March, the weakest in six months. This marked a sharp slowdown from the 21.8% expansion in the first two months of 2026. Meanwhile, imports surged 27.8%, their biggest leap since November 2021. Its trade surplus contracted a bit.

For Beijing, trade turmoil is a headache, especially since domestic consumption has failed to perk up, but not a crisis, given its broad economic resilience in the face of...