Manufacturing activity shrank in August for the first time in Trump’s presidency, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said that its manufacturing index dropped to 49.1 in August from 51.2 in July.
Any figure below 50 indicates a contraction of manufacturing activity, and August’s dip below that level is the first since August 2016.
{mosads}According to the association of purchasing managers, demand and consumption both contracted in August.
The survey data from ISM adds to an array of factors pointing toward manufacturing declining, including Federal Reserve data.
The slowdown has been attributed partially to growing trade tensions and slumping growth in foreign markets which has damaged manufacturing globally.
The U.S. and China have exchanged escalating tit-for-tat tariffs for months.
On Sunday, President Trump followed through with a threat to impose 15 percent tariffs on roughly $112 billion worth of Chinese imports. He has threatened to increase previous tariffs on $250 billion of imports — from 25 percent to 30 percent, starting next month — and place new 15 percent tariffs on another $160 billion of imports in mid-December.
China struck back with its own tariffs on American goods.
The supply executives surveyed by ISM “expressed slightly more concern about U.S.-China trade turbulence, but trade remains the most significant issue, indicated by the strong contraction in new export orders.”