China’s economy showed its first big signs of damage from the trade war, as steep U.S. tariffs pummeled export orders and production at the country’s factories. A gauge of new export orders fell in April to its lowest reading since Covid-19 was ravaging the country in 2022,

Nations are being forced to choose between siding with China or the U.S. as President Donald Trump’s trade war locks the world’s two largest economies on a collision course.

Comments from the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent raised expectations that the economic rivals could find a way to reduce the intensity of the trade war.