The trade war may be taking its toll. At least China's Ministry of Commerce seems to think so.

The ministry issued a warning Monday, saying it expects weaker trade and economic performance in China and abroad for the rest of this year and into 2019.

"The development of China's external trade will face an even more severe and complicated environment in 2019, and risks of global economic downturn will increase while protectionism will threaten the stable growth of global trade," the ministry said in a press release Monday.

But of course the ministry qualified its dour forecast, saying part of the comparatively bad numbers could be due to good performance in the same quarter last year.