China’s economy has slowed in the face of trade turmoil triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a prolonged crisis in the property market weigh on growth.

Official figures show the world’s second largest economy grew by 5.2% in the three months to the end of June, compared to the same time last year. That’s down from 5.4% in the previous quarter.

But the country has so far avoided a sharp downturn, partly due to measures announced by Beijing to help support the economy and a fragile tariffs truce with Washington.

The economy “withstood pressure and made steady improvement despite challenges”, said China’s National Bureau of Statistics in a statement.

Officials said economic growth was helped by a 6.4% expansion in manufacturing, with higher demand for 3D printing devices, electric vehicles and industrial robots.

The country’s services sector – which includes areas like transport, finance, and technology – also made gains.

But in June, retail sales growth slowed to 4.8% from a year earlier, compared with a 6.4% increase in May.

Also on Tuesday, official figures showed a drop in China’s new home prices in June, falling at the fastest monthly pace in eight months.

The data suggests the country’s real estate industry is continuing to struggle despite several rounds of measures to support property prices.

Analysts had expected a bigger impact from tariffs on China’s economy but the country remains “highly resilient”, said economist Gu Qingyang from the National University of Singapore.

Growth was boosted by exports, mainly due to firms rushing to ship goods before potential new tariffs or changes to China’s export strategy take effect, he added.

The second half of the year is likely be more uncertain though, Prof Gu said.

“As a result, stronger government stimulus might be needed. That said, achieving the 5% annual growth target still seems well within reach.”

But some economists expect China to miss its “around 5%” annual growth target this year.

“The real question is by how much. We believe it will defend a floor of 4%, which remains the minimum politically acceptable level,” Dan Wang, director for China at consultancy Eurasia Group told the BBC.

A tariffs war between China’s President Xi Jinping and Trump led to the US imposing a 145% levy on Chinese imports. In return, Beijing introduced a 125% duty on some US goods.

Those tariffs were paused after negotiations in Geneva and London. The two sides now have until 12 August to reach a long-term trade deal.

Washington has also hit countries with close economic ties to China with heavy levies.

Israeli forces have continued to pound the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 78 Palestinians, including several aid seekers, as ceasefire talks stall amid a deepening fuel and hunger crisis.

An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point in Rafah in southern Gaza killed at least five people who were seeking aid on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The killings raised the death toll of Palestinians killed near aid sites run by the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to 838, according to Wafa.

In Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a displacement camp killed nine people and wounded many others. In central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, four people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit a commercial centre, Wafa said.

Israeli forces also resumed stepping up attacks in northern Gaza and Gaza City. Israeli media reported an ambush in Gaza City, with a tank hit by rocket fire and later, with small arms. A helicopter was seen evacuating casualties. The Israeli military later confirmed that three soldiers were killed in the incident.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israeli forces responded with “massive air strikes in the vicinity of [the] Tuffah and Shujayea neighbourhoods, levelling residential buildings”.

The Wafa news agency said at least 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City and dozens more were wounded.

The attacks come as UN agencies continue to plead for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, where famine looms and a severe fuel shortage has brought the already battered healthcare sector to its knees.

Gaza’s water crisis has also intensified since Israel blocked nearly all fuel shipments into the enclave on March 2. With no fuel, desalination plants, wastewater treatment facilities and pumping stations have largely shut down.

Egypt’s foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

“Nothing has changed [on the ground],” Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels.

‘A real catastrophe’

The EU’s top diplomat said on Thursday that the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation, including increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.

When asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar referred to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on the implementation.

Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains “catastrophic”.

“There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation of the Israeli siege,” he said.

Meanwhile, stuttering ceasefire talks entered a second week on Monday, with mediators seeking to close the gap between Israel and Hamas.

The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear to still remain deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of captives and a 60-day ceasefire.

An official with knowledge of the talks said they were “ongoing” in Doha on Monday, the AFP news agency reported.

“Discussions are currently focused on the proposed maps for the deployment of Israeli forces within Gaza,” the source reportedly said.

“Mediators are actively exploring innovative mechanisms to bridge the remaining gaps and maintain momentum in the negotiations,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he wants to see the Palestinian group destroyed, of being the main obstacle.

“Netanyahu is skilled at sabotaging one round of negotiations after another, and is unwilling to reach any agreement,” the group wrote on Telegram.

Netanyahu is under growing pressure to end the war, with military casualties rising and public frustration mounting.

He also faces backlash over the feasibility and ethics of a plan to build a so-called “humanitarian city” from scratch on the ruins of southern Gaza’s Rafah to house 600,000 Palestinians if and when a ceasefire takes hold.

Israel’s security establishment is reported to be unhappy with the plan, which the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said amounts to plans for a “concentration camp”.

The Pentagon has signed a multi-million dollar deal to begin using Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, as part of a wider rollout of AI tools for government use, the Department of Defence confirmed.

Announced on Monday by Musk’s company xAI, the $200m (£149m) contract is part of its “Grok for Government” programme, and aligns with the Trump administration’s push for more aggressive adoption of artificial intelligence.

It comes just days after Grok sparked backlash for spouting antisemitic posts, including praise for Adolf Hitler on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.

Musk said the bot was “too compliant” and “too eager to please”. He said the issue was being addressed.

Musk’s xAI says the new deal will give US government departments access to Grok 4, the latest version of the chatbot, and offer custom tools for national security use.

The company also plans to provide technical support for classified environments.

The Pentagon also announced awarding similar contracts to Anthropic, Google and OpenAI – each with a $200m ceiling.

“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,” said the administration’s Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty.

Musk’s expanding government partnerships come amid a deteriorating relationship with President Donald Trump.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss had spent a quarter of a billion dollars on Trump’s re-election effort in 2024, and actively campaigned for him.

He was later appointed to run the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – a federal cost-cutting initiative tasked with reducing the size of the US government.

But in recent months, Musk began openly criticising what Trump had dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill”, a sprawling spending and tax cuts legislation that the Tesla boss said was too costly for Americans.

Musk resigned from his post at Doge in May, though the department has not been officially disbanded.

Since then, Trump had suggested Doge could be deployed to harm Musk’s companies.

Trump also suggested he might deport Musk, who is an American citizen and was born in South Africa. He also holds Canadian citizenship.

While at the helm of Doge, the White House was criticised for allowing Musk to have unfettered access to troves of government data on American citizens.

Despite the fall-out, Musk’s xAI has continued to expand its government work. Its newly-announced contract may also create an avenue for that data collection to continue.

Grok was introduced in late 2023 as a more unfiltered alternative to other AI chatbots like ChatGPT. It is already integrated into Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.