China’s Industrial Profits Sink on US Tariffs, Deflation Woes

Workers on the production line at a kitchen utensils factory near Zhuhai, China.

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

China’s industrial firms saw their profits drop the most since October, illustrating weakness in an economy strained by higher US tariffs and lingering deflationary pressure.

Industrial profits fell 9.1% last month from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics. The May reading reversed a modest gain earlier this year and took decline in the first five months to 1.1%.