China's export growth slowed to a three-month low in May as U.S. tariffs slammed shipments, while factory-gate deflation deepened to its worst level in two years, heaping pressure on the world's second-largest economy on both the domestic and external fronts.

U.S. exports to China would likely have been $160 billion to $201 billion greater without the seven-year Trump-Biden trade war.

Chinese exports rose less than expected last month as the worst drop in shipments to the US in more than five years counteracted strong demand from other markets.