Tokyo | China’s central bank has announced a raft of stimulus measures in stepped up efforts to shield the world’s second-largest economy, which is caught in a damaging trade war with the United States.

The People’s Bank of China on Wednesday cut a key interest rate and lowered the amount of cash lenders must hold in reserve, just hours after Beijing confirmed it would hold face-to-face talks with US officials this weekend in Switzerland. The trade talks are the first since Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.