China’s economy slows sharply as trade war bites

Workers on the production line for kitchen utensils at a Velong Enterprises Co. factory near Zhuhai, China. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

China’s economy slowed across the board in July with factory activity, investment and retail sales disappointing, suggesting Beijing’s crackdown on destructive price wars and spillovers from Donald Trump’s tariffs are casting a pall over the world’s No. 2 economy.

Production at Chinese factories and mines rose at the slowest rate since November and expanded a worse-than-forecast 5.7% last month from a year earlier, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, compared with June’s gain of 6.8%.