China ADRs & ETFs continued to rise in overnight trading. YINN up 8%; XPeng up 5%; JD.com, Alibaba, Baidu, PDD Holdings up around 3%.

China set a forceful economic growth goal at about 5% for 2025, raising expectations for officials to unleash more stimulus later this year as they confront a trade war with Donald Trump.

Premier Li Qiang announced the target Wednesday morning as he delivered the government’s annual work report to the national parliament in Beijing.

China buttressed its growth plan with the highest fiscal deficit target in over three decades and a pledge to raise local government bond issuance to record levels — all in line with market expectations.

Li outlined his blueprint for China’s economy to thousands of delegates of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, shortly before Trump touted his tariff policy as a way to make “America rich again” in an address to Congress.

The target “underscores our resolve to meet difficulties head-on and strive hard to deliver,” said Li. “In setting the growth rate at around 5%, we have taken into account the need to stabilize employment, prevent risks, and improve the people’s wellbeing.”

In a step to boost fiscal stimulus, the government unveiled a plan to increase its sales of special bonds to fund greater public spending in areas including infrastructure, which aren’t counted toward the headline budget deficit.

A broad measure of government deficit target reached 9.9% of GDP in 2025, the highest on record, based on Bloomberg calculations of official figures.

Li pledged the focus of economic policies will shift to benefiting people’s lives and boosting consumption. The word “consumption” was mentioned 27 times throughout the document, the most in at least a decade.

Authorities will sell 1.3 trillion yuan ($179 billion) worth of special sovereign bonds and use 300 billion yuan of the proceeds to finance a subsidy program for residents’ purchases of consumer goods, doubling its size in 2024. The rest of the money will go toward building major infrastructure projects and encouraging businesses to upgrade their equipment.

Li pledged the focus of economic policies will shift to benefiting people’s lives and boosting consumption. The word “consumption” was mentioned 27 times throughout the document, the most in at least a decade.

In a tacit recognition of deflationary pressures, the government lowered its official target for consumer price increase to around 2%, the lowest since 2003.

While that goal was largely regarded as a ceiling in the past, trimming it shows officials have conceded faster price growth will be a challenge after consumer inflation reached only 0.2% for the past two years.

Overall, the report will be seen as “positive and important as a growth stabilizing factor,” Wee Khoon Chong, senior APAC market strategist for Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

“All that’s needed now is effective implementation of all measures announced. We expect further credit and monetary easing to complement China fiscal strategy,” Wee added.