The New York Times reports that China is signaling that it is worried about its economy. Troubled by slowing growth, persistent debt problems and President Trump's trade war, the Chinese government has taken steps in recent months to shore up its economy. It has pared back a high-profile campaign to tackle debt. It has restarted big infrastructure projects, a traditional economic engine. It has even censored bad economic news. On Sunday, Beijing went one step further. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, pulled a financial lever that will effectively pump $175 billion into the economy. The government is aiming to help small and midsize businesses in particular, which have had trouble obtaining loans and face other rising pressures. The move signals that China's economy "is really not doing well," Chen Shouhong, the founder of the investment information platform Gelonghui, wrote on WeChat, a popular Chinese social media service. The growing trade war with the United States has been the most visible threat. In September, the United States imposed tariffs on $200 billion in goods from China. President Trump has shown little inclination to back off and relations between the two countries have cooled, suggesting the trade war could worsen before it gets better.

The New York Times reports that China is looking for new ways to retaliate in the intensifying trade drama — and experts warn that some corporate deals with American buyers could be in jeopardy. A number of global deals involving American companies are under review by Chinese market regulators. Among the biggest is Walt Disney Company's $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, which has an Oct. 19 deadline. United Technologies — owner of Pratt & Whitney, the jet engine maker, and other industrial businesses — is waiting to close a $30 billion purchase of Rockwell Collins, the aerospace parts maker. China's antitrust regulators disclose little about their deliberations. But some companies worry that this opacity could provide cover for retaliation in response to tariffs that the United States has placed on Chinese goods — and wonder if long-negotiated deals could become collateral damage in the trade war...China is looking for ways to retaliate because it has more or less run out of American imports to tax...Blocking American deals comes with some cost. Aggressive regulators could spur foreign companies to retreat from China just when economic growth there is slowing.

The Financial Times says that the Trump administration is seeking to stop the EU, UK and Japan from striking separate trade deals with China as it tries to impose economic isolation on its Asian rival. The US's revamped Nafta trade deal with Canada and Mexico includes a provision that would require its two neighbours to give notification of any trade negotiations with a "non-market economy". That clause could also force those countries to disclose details of any talks and allow Washington to walk away from the Nafta agreement if such a separate deal were completed.  The measure triggered a backlash in Canada, where critics said it enshrined a loss of sovereignty for Ottawa and limited its own trade policy. But a senior White House official said the US would try to replicate it in other negotiations, including talks that have started with the EU and Japan as well as future talks with the UK after it leaves the 28-member bloc.  "Will this be a precedent for the future? Absolutely," a senior White House official said on Saturday. "It is important that we make sure that any agreements we enter into do not ultimately get undermined and [that] China does not find a backdoor way to gain access to the US market." The provision — in article 32.10 of the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, as Nafta was rebranded — was striking because it offers US allies a binary choice between Washington and Beijing.