China’s business activities faltered in July in the first official data to reflect the impact of U.S. tariffs, adding to signs that trade tensions have started to pinch economic growth. Official surveys of factories and service providers pointed to sluggish domestic demand. Companies that had been frontloading shipments to stay ahead of higher tariffs may have slowed production and investment, economists say. Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, which led to immediate retaliation on U.S. products. The White House has threatened additional levies on exports, further hurting business sentiment. “Impacts from the tariffs started to kick in this month,” said Liu Xuezhi, an economist at Bank of Communications. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to a five-month low of 51.2 from June’s 51.5, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. July’s reading came in slightly […]