China's economic growth has ground to its slowest pace in decades as Donald Trump's trade was with the country takes effect. The world's second biggest economy grew by 6.6 percent in 2018, its slowest pace since 1990 and down from 6.8 percent in 2017. It grew just 6.4% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, levels which The Guardian reports were last seen in 2009 when the global financial crisis was at its worst. “We see that there are changes in stability, concern about these changes. The external environment is complicated and severe. The economy is facing downward pressure,” said Ning Jizhe, director of China’s National Statistic Bureau. He added: “China-U.S. conflict is indeed affecting China’s economy, that is true, but the impact is manageable.” The figures have raised concerns that China may no longer be able to help bolster weakening global growth, as it has in the past.