China’s biggest fall in exports in two years is bad news for all of us – and this is why

The global superpower’s fragility will be an increasingly unsettling feature of the world economy for the years to come

We should get used to looking to China for guidance on the state of the global economy (AFP/Getty)

The place to watch if you want to know what is going on with the world economy is not so much America, but China.

We are not used to this. In the past, the big swings in economic growth have started in the US, and of course it still massively important. But right now China is more volatile.

Think of it this way. If you are a German car manufacturer you may be a bit worried by Brexit, and tariffs on sales to the US would be a nightmare. But the thing that would really keep you awake at night would be something else: a collapse of car sales in China.