HONG KONG (AP) — China reports its exports expanded by 21.5 percent from a year earlier in April, bouncing back from a contraction the previous month thanks to reflecting resurgent global demand.

Customs data released Tuesday showed that imports expanded 12.9 percent year-on-year in dollar terms.

That leaves the country's politically sensitive monthly trade surplus with the rest of the world at $28.8 billion, a turnaround from the previous month's $5 billion deficit.

The latest figures as China and the United States spar over Beijing's perennial trade surplus. U.S. officials traveled to Beijing last week for talks with their Chinese counterparts to resolve the issue but made little progress.

Although its global trade balance swung to a rare deficit in March, China's surplus with the United States stood at $15.4 billion.