US economic growth slows amid trade war, cooling housing market

U.S. economic growth slowed to 3.5 percent in the three months through September, according to preliminary estimates, as exports slowed amid President Trump’s widening trade war and the housing market cooled.

The rate of expansion, slightly higher than the 3.3 percent economists had estimated, compared with 4.2 percent in the spring quarter and was bolstered by federal and state government spending as well as consumer purchases, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said in a statement.