Wall Street starts to cut China GDP forecasts on U.S. trade tensions

Trucks line up at the container terminal in the Longtan Port area of Nanjing Port, Jiangsu province, China on the evening of April 8, 2025.
BEIJING — Goldman Sachs on Thursday became the latest investment firm to trim its China growth forecast on escalating trade tensions with the U.S.
In less than a week, U.S. tariffs on goods from China have more than doubled, while Beijing has hit back with more duties and restrictions on U.S. businesses.
Goldman Sachs economists lowered their forecast for China’s gross domestic product this year to 4.0% from 4.5%, citing impacts from the substantial rise in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Wall Street bank anticipates the higher U.S. effective tariff rate, which has soared to 125% from 11% since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office, will dent growth in the world’s second-biggest economy by 2.2 percentage points in 2025.
While Beijing is likely to further intensify policy easing to counter the trade disruption, the measures are unlikely to