Category Archives: China

Why is Trump ending the ‘de minimis’ tariff loophole on low-value imports?

Posted on by

Goods worth less than $800 will be subject to 120% levy meaning prices on Chinese exports will probably increase

At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, the US president said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”

Continue reading...

Chinese e-commerce exports to US plummet by 65% in face of tariffs

Posted on by

Temu and Shein among fast-fashion sites affected by drop in first three months of this year but sales in rise to EU

Exports to the US from Chinese online shops such as Temu and Shein have plunged in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war, as shipping from China to the EU has increased.

Official Chinese data showed its total e-commerce shipping to the US dropped 65% by volume in the first three months of the year, but rose by 28% in Europe.

Continue reading...

China manufacturing activity plummets amid Trump tariff war

Posted on by

Index of activity drops to lowest reading since December 2023 as a result of ‘sharp changes’ in international trading

China’s factory activity slowed in April, with Beijing blaming “sharp changes” in the global economy as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States.

Punishing US tariffs that reached 145% on many Chinese products came into force in April, and Beijing responded with 125% duties on imports from the US. Chinese exports soared more than 12% last month as businesses rushed to get ahead of the punishing tariffs.

Continue reading...

‘The eighth wonder of the world’: China’s terracotta warriors to march on Australia for blockbuster show

Posted on by

Perth will host huge exhibition of ancient treasures from first emperor’s tomb in June, with 40% of the artefacts leaving China for the first time ever

Two thousand years ago, in a bid to conquer death itself, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang commissioned a city of the dead: a 49 sq km mausoleum guarded by an army of clay warriors, built to defend his tomb for eternity.

When farmers near Xi’an unearthed the first clay head in 1974, they cracked open one of humanity’s greatest archaeological mysteries, with more than 8,000 Terracotta Warriors discovered over the last 50 years. Now, fragments of that dream of immortality rise again – this time in Perth, where the largest exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors ever staged in Australia will head later this year

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

Continue reading...

Student rescued from Mount Fuji twice in one week

Posted on by

Chinese national, 27, reportedly returned to Japan’s highest mountain days after first rescue to retrieve his phone

A university student has been rescued from the slopes of Mount Fuji twice in the space of a week – the second time during an attempt to retrieve his mobile phone.

The hapless climber, a 27-year-old Chinese national who has not been named, was airlifted from Japan’s highest mountain last week, only to be the subject of a second search four days later.

Continue reading...

Met police ‘maintain concerns’ about China super-embassy plan

Posted on by

Exclusive: Force, which had dropped objection to plan, says protests of more than 500 people would impede traffic and require extra resources

China’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers.

Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell

Continue reading...

China and Philippines display competing flags on disputed South China Sea sandbank

Posted on by

Beijing and Manila accuse each other of illegal activities around Sandy Cay near the Spratly Isles, as joint US-Filipino military drills get under way in region

China and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea, ratcheting up longstanding regional tensions between the two countries.

The dispute played out at Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, and comes days after the US and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called “Balikatan”, or “shoulder to shoulder”, which this year will include an integrated air and missile defence simulation for the first time.

Continue reading...

UK banks brace for first-quarter reports after Trump tariff turmoil

Posted on by

Lenders expected to split into two camps: those focused on domestic customers and those with large operations in the US, China and the EU

UK banks’ earnings reports will be studied this week for signs of turmoil linked to Donald Trump’s tariff drama, with uncertainty over global growth likely to weigh on lenders with heavy exposure to China, including HSBC.

First-quarter profits only reflect the January-to-March period that preceded the US president’s “liberation day” tariff announcements on 2 April. But investors will be concerned about any hints of caution around earnings forecasts, as well as an uptick in money put aside for defaults by tariff-hit borrowers.

Continue reading...

US treasury secretary says ‘there is a path’ with China over tariff negotiations

Posted on by

‘The Chinese will see this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business,’ says Scott Bessent

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said “there is a path” to an agreement with China over tariffs after he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week in Washington.

“I had interaction with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings,” Bessent told ABC News’s This Week on Sunday, explaining that he spoke to the Chinese during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. “I don’t know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi,” he added.

Continue reading...

Trump administration investigating California university over foreign gifts

Posted on by

DoE investigation revives reports that UC Berkeley failed to disclose Chinese funding for a now severed partnership

The Trump administration launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, on Friday centered on foreign funding, making it the latest university to be targeted by the federal government.

The investigation revives criticism from several years ago about the university’s partnership with China’s Tsinghua University. It comes after Donald Trump earlier this week signed a series of executive orders focused on universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda.

Continue reading...

Trump administration investigating California university over foreign gifts

Posted on by

DoE investigation revives reports that UC Berkeley failed to disclose Chinese funding for a now severed partnership

The Trump administration launched an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, on Friday centered on foreign funding, making it the latest university to be targeted by the federal government.

The investigation revives criticism from several years ago about the university’s partnership with China’s Tsinghua University. It comes after Donald Trump earlier this week signed a series of executive orders focused on universities that he views as liberal adversaries to his political agenda.

Continue reading...

Xi announces plan for Chinese economy to counter impact of US trade war

Posted on by

Beijing will ‘strengthen bottom-line thinking’ as reports say it could drop tariffs on some US products

Xi Jinping has announced a plan to counter China’s continuing economic problems and the impact of the US trade war, as reports swirl that it could drop tariffs on some US products, including semiconductors.

Friday’s meeting of the politburo was convened to discuss China’s economy, which since the pandemic has faced difficulties fuelled by a housing sector crisis, youth unemployment and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US.

Continue reading...

US writers at growing risk of crackdown on free speech, says PEN America

Posted on by

China again biggest jailer of writers in 2024, followed by Iran – with Israel in fifth place, says organisation’s annual report

Writers in the US are at growing risk amid a worldwide crackdown on free speech that has begun to spread to countries previously renowned for unfettered expression and openness, according to a leading writers’ advocacy group.

PEN America said it was concerned about an emerging threat from the Trump administration as it published its annual Freedom to Write index report, which showed that the number of writers jailed worldwide had jumped for the sixth year running to 375 in 2024, compared with 339 the year before.

Continue reading...

Badenoch declines to criticise Jenrick over Reform coalition comments – as it happened

Posted on by

Spokesperson for Tory leader says she agrees with colleague that ‘we need to bring centre-right voters together’. This blog is closed

Rosie Duffield, the independent MP who left Labour after the election in part because she felt her gender critical views made her unwelcome in the party (although her resignation letter focused on welfare issues), has claimed that Keir Starmer no longer arguing a trans woman is a woman shows he is a “manager rather than a leader”.

Speaking on LBC, Duffield said:

It’s just another sign of the prime minister’s lack of leadership skills. I’m bound to say that, he’s a manager rather than a leader. He responds and reacts rather than leads from the front, and this is what we’re seeing again from him.

Nigel Farage is peddling a dangerous fantasy by claiming the UK can be self-sufficient in gas.

After sixty years of drilling, the truth is the UK has already burned most of its gas. That’s down to geology, not politics, and no amount of hot air from Farage will change that.

Continue reading...

Boeing investors brace for fallout from Trump tariffs

Posted on by

Jets intended for Chinese airline returned to US, raising fears for planemaker as results near

Investors in Boeing are braced to learn the full impact of Donald Trump’s trade war, amid fears the US planemaker could be hit harder than first expected after jets intended for a Chinese airline were returned to the US.

A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane intended for use by a Chinese airline returned to the US on Monday from Boeing’s China finishing centre, according to flight data cited by Reuters. It followed the arrival in the US on Sunday of another 737 Max painted in the livery of China’s Xiamen Airlines at Boeing’s US production hub in Seattle.

Continue reading...

China pits humanoid robots against humans in half-marathon for first time

Posted on by

Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing

Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21km course.

The robots from Chinese manufacturers such as DroidVP and Noetix Robotics came in all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 1.2m, others as tall as 1.8m. One company boasted that its robot looked almost human, with feminine features and the ability to wink and smile. Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race. Beijing officials have described the event as more akin to motor racing, given the need for engineering and navigation teams.

Continue reading...

China dismisses Zelenskyy’s claim it has supplied weapons to Russia

Posted on by

Beijing rejects Ukrainian president’s accusation as ‘groundless’ and says it is committed to ending the conflict

China’s foreign ministry has dismissed as “groundless” the accusation by Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the country had been supplying weapons to Russia.

The comments, made at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday, came a day after the Ukrainian president said China was supplying weapons to Russia, including gunpowder and artillery, and that Chinese representatives were involved in weapons production on Russian territory.

Continue reading...

New daily weight-loss pill shows success at clinical trial

Posted on by

Orforglipron also reduced blood sugar levels in participants with type 2 diabetes

A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes.

People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday.

Continue reading...

Uyghur rights group calls on hotel chains not to ‘sanitise’ China abuses in Xinjiang

Posted on by

Growth in international hotels coincides with government effort to push region as a tourism destination

Almost 200 international hotels are operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, despite calls from human rights groups for global corporations not to help “sanitise” the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in the region, a report has said.

The report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) identified 115 operational hotels which the organisation said “benefit from a presence in the Uyghur region”. At least another 74 were in various stages of construction or planning, the report said. The UHRP said some of the hotels also had exposure or links of concern to forced labour and labour transfer programmes.

Continue reading...

Nvidia’s CEO makes surprise visit to Beijing after US restricts chip sales to China

Posted on by

Jensen Huang causes stir on social media and is reported to have met founder of AI company DeepSeek

The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China.

Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media.

Continue reading...