BEIJING  –  China’s foreign trade maintained swift growth in the first eight months of 2026, with both exports and imports posting solid gains, and import growth continuing to outpace exports, official data showed on Tuesday. The country’s total goods imports and exports rose 17.6 percent year on year to 34.78 trillion yuan (about 5.13 trillion US dollars) in the January-August period, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points faster than that recorded in the first seven months of the year. Exports increased 14.6 percent year on year to 20.17 trillion yuan, while…