Investing.com - Growth in Retail sales and industrial output in China slowed more than expected in November, official data showed on Friday.
Retail sales grew 8.1% year on year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, compared with the median forecast of 8.8%. The growth was the weakest pace since 2003, according to Reuters’ records.
Meanwhile, growth in industrial output also dipped half a percentage point to notch a year-on-year rise of 5.4%, lower than the 5.9% that markets projected.
On the other hand, fixed-asset investment grew 5.9% from January to November, marginally higher than the previous expected 5.8%.
The weak Chinese data came amidst a yet unresolved Sino-U.S. trade dispute.
However, there have been signs of progress in the U.S.-China talks since this month as China appeared to be taking more steps to ease tension with the U.S.
Beijing promised to remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. automobiles and postpone some targets of its ambitious plans to dominate high-end technologies, the “Made in China 2025” plan, by 10 years.
The “Made in China 2025” is a strategic plan announced in May 2015. The plan aims to lessen China’s dependency on imported technology and has been a main target in Trump’s trade war.
China will also seek to be more open to participation by foreign companies, according to reports.
Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration would announce later in the day that it is officially delaying the tariff hike from 10% to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods until March.