China's economy expanded at a 5 per cent annual pace in 2025, buoyed by strong exports despite Trump's tariffs. However, growth slowed to 4.5 per cent in the last quarter of the year, the government said Monday. That was the slowest quarterly growth since late 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy, the world's second largest, grew at a 4.8 per cent annual pace in the previous quarter. As expected, annual growth last year was in line with the government's official target for an expansion of “about 5 per cent".

Source: The Telegraph January 19, 2026 05:32 UTC