Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- The Drug Industry Is Having Its Own DeepSeek Moment — It isn’t just artificial intelligence. Chinese biotech companies are now developing drugs faster and cheaper than their U.S. counterparts.
- China’s Firms Are Bleeding Cash—and Vulnerable to Trump’s Trade War — Companies across the country are bleeding cash as they struggle with overcapacity and weak spending in a slumping economy, leaving them vulnerable to tariffs.
The Financial Times
- Republican attorneys-general say Wall Street firms underplay China risk — Companies including BlackRock and JPMorgan accused of ‘misstatements or material omissions’.
- China appoints ‘wolf warrior’ ambassador to manage affairs with Europe — Selection of blunt-talking Lu Shaye signals hardening of Beijing’s stance towards EU.
The New York Times
- Trump, the Panama Canal and China’s Role: What We Know — The canal’s two biggest ports are operated by a Hong Kong company with global reach. The Trump administration sees a Chinese threat to U.S. security.
- Opinion: Reimagining the American War Machine — The biggest challenge for any peacetime military is preparing for the next war. By Maximilian K. Bremer and Kelly A. Grieco.
- Opinion: Killing U.S.A.I.D. Is a Win for Autocrats Everywhere — The attacks on the agency are cruel and counterproductive. By Samantha Power.
Caixin
- Ten Executives From Shenzhen Metro Group Assume Key Roles in China Vanke — State-owned shareholder tightens grip on debt-laden China Vanke decision-making.
- Local Government Medical Insurance Funds Sink Into the Red — An aging population, rising health care costs and slowing government revenue growth in China are contributing to deficits of the funds.
- After Brain-Computer Tech Breakthroughs, the Next Challenge Is Bringing It to Market — In January, a Shanghai firm announced a breakthrough in the technology that allows the human brain to communicate directly with computers.
- China’s Carmakers Face Crossroad as Slowdown Persists — For China’s auto industry, 2025 could be a year of fiercer competition, greater external pressure and more technological innovation.
- Opinion: Answering the Nine Crucial Questions Raised by DeepSeek — DeepSeek has shaken the global AI industry, leaving people asking if it’ll reshape investment, the tech’s applications and the vast chip market. By Huang Leping and Chen Xudong.
South China Morning Post
- Tech curbs, Boeing woes stand in way of revival for 2020 China-US trade balance deal — Trump’s nominee for US Trade Representative wants to revive deal, but China analysts say there are considerable hurdles to overcome.
- ‘Made in China 2025’ puts US at risk of ‘losing next industrial revolution’, panel told — A hearing by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission features warnings and advice for Washington as competition with China heats up.
- As US and China dominate AI race, where is Europe’s answer to DeepSeek and ChatGPT? — European AI firms trail US and Chinese competitors, but open-source projects and regulation could help continent catch up, tech experts say.
- China+10: how multinationals are revamping their supply chains for Trump 2.0 — Businesses are rerouting goods via a host of new markets to avoid the US’ widening tariff regime – from Poland to South Africa.
- KFC China operator Yum to continue opening spree, value-menu push — The company plans to add up to 1,800 new stores in 2025, maintaining a pace set last year to tap potential in lower-tier cities.
Nikkei Asia
- China-focused NGOs reel from U.S. foreign funding freeze — Suspension of grants risks making heavily censored country more opaque.
- Asian immigrants in U.S. cower in shadow of Trump deportation drive — An estimated 1.7m Asians lived in U.S. without authorization in 2022, up a third from 2016.
- Hong Kong follows China in complaining to WTO over Trump tariffs — Japanese and U.S. business pessimism about the city — and mainland — deepens.
Bloomberg
- Hong Kong Gets Swept Up in Trump’s Trade War With China — Donald Trump’s new trade war is further blurring the lines between Hong Kong and Beijing, threatening to erode the city’s main selling point as a global financial hub.
- Apple’s China Focus Thrusts It Into Center of Geopolitical Fight — Apple, which counts China as its biggest manufacturing hub and the US as its largest market, is now at the center of an escalating geopolitical fight that threatens to span tariffs and regulatory probes.
- Opinion: Trump’s Swings at China Land on MAGA Heartland — The appeal of Chinese e-commerce platforms like Temu has always been prices. Scrapping a tariff loophole will sting poorer US consumers. By Catherine Thorbecke.
Reuters
- Big companies see no China recovery soon, adding to trade tensions gloom — Weak consumer spending in China has been a major concern for industries including luxury goods, consumer products and clothes manufacturers over the past year.
- VW’s SEAT boss warns Spanish jobs at risk if China-made EV tariff is not lowered — Executives at several European carmakers say the additional tariffs on their China-made vehicles are causing collateral damage to domestic companies and jobs, contrary to the intention of protecting them.
- Trump to meet Japan’s Ishiba as China trade war simmers — Trump’s early fight with China over synthetic opioids and warnings of tariffs against other countries – Japan included – threatens to disrupt commercial relations in Asia and beyond.
Other Publications
- Foreign Policy: Did Biden Get China Right? — The administration aimed to outcompete China. Four years later, here’s how it measured up.
- Foreign Policy: Can India and China Turn the Corner? — Despite the recent thaw in tensions, the bilateral relationship is poised to remain tumultuous in 2025.
- The Washington Post: For Chinese exporters big and small, a week of chaos and confusion — The Trump administration’s tariffs and restrictions on Chinese imports are already hurting businesses making everything from plush toys to fast fashion.
- The New Yorker: The Rise of China’s Soft Power — Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s gutting of U.S.A.I.D. will weaken Washington’s reach, but America was already losing the fight for global influence.
- The Economist: China is infiltrating Taiwan’s armed forces — And Taiwan is struggling to deal with the growing number of spies.
- The Economist: Xi Jinping swings his “assassin’s mace” of economic warfare — China is weaponising its supply chains, but risks blowback if it goes too far.
- Brookings: China’s retaliatory tariffs will hurt Trump-voting counties most — While price increases are a real concern, another impact involves the fact that regional economies (and the local jobs there) are frequently caught in the middle of trade disputes, though not equally.
- CSIS: Beyond Manufacturing: Why Services Are Key to U.S.-China Economic Competition — The tradeable service sector is not only critically important to the U.S. economy because of its size, but also its productivity growth.
- Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative: China Coast Guard Patrols in 2024: An Exercise in Futility? — Beijing maintained daily patrols at key locations across the South China Sea in 2024, continuing to use the proximity of its island bases and size of its coast guard fleet to monitor and challenge the activities of other claimants within the nine-dash line.
- The Guardian: US cedes ground to China with ‘self-inflicted wound’ of USAid shutdown, analysts say — Sudden suspension of aid funding a ‘perfect opportunity’ for Beijing to fill the gap and grow its own soft power.
