China's records a trade deficit in March 2010

For the first time in Six year, China posted a monthly trade deficit of $7.2 billion, in March 2010. Exports totaled $112.11 billion in March, up 24.3% from a year earlier. Imports reached US$119.35 billion, up 66% compared to the same period last year, Xinhua reported. China's global trade surplus was $7.6 billion in February and the combined January-February surplus was $21.8 billion. Economists say the deficit reflected weak exports to the United States and other major markets still struggling to recover from the recession, as well as sharp rise in import of commodities. But China's minister of commerce, Chen Deming, described March's deficit as only a "blip on the radar," in the state-run newspaper China Daily. Read more in USA Today, on 11 April 2010.
Is this a blip on the radar, or is it indicative of something new?