Economists believe the US will skirt a recession as lower tariffs than initially announced by the Trump administration are set to handicap consumer spending less than previously feared.

"China and Brazil are getting together. They're going to build infrastructure, and they're going to make SAF and they're going to build railroads, and it's not good for us and our future. That's why we need new markets,

Fed Governor Adriana Kugler still thinks the economy is likely headed for lower growth and sticky inflation amid tariff volatility.

Beginning Wednesday, shipments arriving in the United States from China and Hong Kong worth less than $800 could face 54 percent tariffs.

The de-escalation provides both sides with breathing space to find a way to preserve trading ties that were threatening to grind to a halt.

President Donald Trump's plan for tariffs on imports has guided the stock market's direction over the past few weeks. The initial plan, with double-digit tariffs for countries around the world, shook the market, even pushing the Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC 1.61%) to fall into a bear market.

A s China’s export machine sputters under the weight of 145% tariffs, jobs are at risk. Some 16m workers are involved in the production of goods bound for America, says Goldman Sachs, a bank. Nomura, another bank, projects a possible 5.7m job losses in the near term and 15.8m in the long run, as the shock ripples through the economy.

Beijing has stopped publishing hundreds of statistics related to real estate, finance, unemployment and even soy sauce production, making it harder to know what’s going on in the country.

What is the outlook for China's economy at a time when the global economic recovery is being hampered? Various parties have given their analyses from different perspectives, and two recent datasets have attracted attention.