U.S rate hikes, tax cuts and trade tensions may darken outlook A slowdown in construction is seen as ‘the biggest fault line’ China’s economy begins 2018 facing what its own leaders call three years of “ critical battles .” Those fights to tackle domestic debt, poverty and pollution pose a hat-trick of risks to the world’s No. 2 economy even before higher interest rates and trade war threats from the U.S. are taken into account. While the nation is starting from a position of strength, with full-year growth in 2017 poised for its first acceleration since 2010, the expansion is seen slowing in 2018. As a result, the government of Xi Jinping is signaling that it’s sanguine about more modest economic performance , if progress on the top risk — financial fragility — can be made. Click here for Bloomberg Economics on potential for upside growth surprise “Significant economic […]