NNA - China on Wednesday said its economy grew a forecast-beating 5.4 percent in the first quarter as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of swinging new US tariffs.

Beijing and Washington are locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since US President Donald Trump launched a global tariff assault that has particularly targeted Chinese imports.

Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent toll on US imports.

Official data Wednesday offered a first glimpse into how those trade war fears are affecting the Asian giant's fragile recovery, which was already feeling the pressure of persistently low consumption and a property market debt crisis.--agencies 

=========R.H.