By Gaurav Sharma

Beijing, Oct 19 (IANS): China's economic growth slumped to its lowest since 2009 as it grew by 6.5 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

The announcement by the Chinese government on Friday comes at a time when Beijing is locked in a bleeding trade war with Washington.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said the economy saw a growth of 6.5 per cent in the third quarter on a yearly basis, below the expected rate of 6.6 per cent and slower than 6.7 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

China is a $14 trillion-economy, second after the US. No country has risen economically as fast as China, which managed to clock double-digit growth for 30 years until 2013.

However, various factors have slowed down the Asian giant's economic growth.

China is engaged in a gruelling trade war started by the US, which has slapped tariffs worth $250 billion on Chinese goods in response to "unfair trade" practices by Beijing.

Beijing has hit back by imposing additional taxes on American goods worth $110 billion.

US President Donald Trump has shown no signs of talks with China and even threatened tariffs on the remaining Chinese goods worth $267 billion.