Business

The economy

Inside China

Opinion

Stephen Bartholomeusz Senior business columnist September 16, 2025 — 11.59am

Homegrown structural challenges and Donald Trump’s trade wars are increasingly weighing on China’s economy and showing up in its economic data.

Data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics this week showed retail sales and industrial output are growing at their weakest rate this year, while the four-year decline in its property market is continuing.

The effects of the relatively modest stimulus measures Beijing rolled out in the final quarter of last year appear to be waning and the government’s efforts to combat “involution” – over-capacity and fierce price competition that is generating deflation – appear to be contributing to the slowdown in growt

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