China increased its subsidies to domestically listed companies to a record level last year to help them weather a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy, in a move likely to further strain trade talks with Washington.

Payments by Beijing and local governments to listed companies rose 14 per cent year on year to Rmb153.8bn ($22.3bn) in 2018, according to corporate earnings data collected by financial database Wind.

“This data just reinforce the impression that Chinese companies start the race for business far ahead of their competitors,” said Scott Kennedy, director of the project on Chinese business and political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He said the disclosed payments exclude “a range of implicit subsidies and other non-tariff barriers”.