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
- WeRide Looks to Shift Into Profitability With Diversified Strategy — Achieving profitability will be a key theme for China’s autonomous-driving companies in coming years.
- Baidu Launches New Reasoning AI Model in Challenge to DeepSeek — Baidu introduced Ernie X1, a reasoning model that can support tools such as advanced search, generation of AI images, and webpage reading.
- China Says It Started Year on Strong Economic Footing as Trump Tariffs Hit — Retail sales accelerated and industrial production topped expectations over the first two months of the year.
- Big Retailers’ Hardball Tariff Playbook: Haggle, Diversify, Raise Prices — Walmart, Home Depot, Target and others are asking China-sourced suppliers to share costs. “A lot of those negotiations are going on,” one executive said.
- Inside the Chinese Region That Has Become a No-Go for Western Firms — Projects are dead and surveillance is omnipresent in Xinjiang, which once lured Western companies such as Volkswagen.
- Chinese Ships Are Carrying America’s Cargo. The U.S. Wants to Reverse That. — Beijing’s support helps its shipbuilding industry capture more than half the global market.
The Financial Times
- China unveils plan to ‘vigorously boost’ weak consumption — Policymakers seek to spur demand as economy battles deflationary pressure.
- How Jack Ma’s pivot to AI rehabilitated Alibaba — The Chinese tech giant is establishing a lead in a fiercely competitive sector, and its billionaire founder is back in favour.
- Maritime regulator says ‘fight fire with fire’ and levy China ships at US ports — Federal Maritime Commission chair says taxes on Chinese vessels docking in US should be used to create domestic champions.
- Xi snubs EU-China anniversary summit — Brussels sought visit to mark 50 years of ties, but move adds to scepticism about warm words from Beijing.
- China’s self-driving lidar leader plans tariff-beating overseas factory — Customers urge Hesai to diversify production of key tech for autonomous vehicles to avoid geopolitical tensions.
- Should Europe draw closer to China? — Geopolitical and economic disputes mean Beijing is no natural replacement for the US despite the crisis in transatlantic ties.
- US imposes restrictions on Thai officials for deporting Uyghurs to China — Trump administration makes first move to call out human rights abuses by Beijing.
- How the US economy lost its aura of invincibility — Tariffs and cuts to the federal workforce are raising uncertainty and sapping confidence, while investor exuberance has faded.
- China courts global CEOs for Xi meeting — Planned contact comes as Beijing seeks support of international business and fends off Trump’s tariffs.
The New York Times
- China Outlines Plan to Bolster Consumption in Face of Trump Tariffs — Beijing’s leaders are ordering fiscally strapped local governments to spend more to help workers, consumers and businesses.
- Trump’s Moves Are Boosting Stocks … Overseas — Since Trump’s inauguration, the S&P 500 has fallen 6 percent and is now trailing major markets in Europe and China.
- U.S. Puts Sanctions on Thai Officials for Sending Uyghurs to China — The State Department said it was “combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China.”
- Hegseth Closes Pentagon Office Focused on Future Wars — The Office of Net Assessment opened more than 50 years ago and developed concepts for possible conflict with U.S. adversaries, including China.
Caixin
- UnionPay Partners With Cambodia, Thailand to Make Payments Easier — The Chinese state-owned company is partnering with local authorities across Southeast Asia to facilitate QR code payments.
- China Starts Dismantling Covid-Era Hospitals — A Guangdong recycling company made a winning bid last week to pay $815,000 for the electrical cables at one idle facility.
- Where Chinese Overseas Investment Is Heading — As Western markets impose stricter regulations, Chinese investments are flowing into emerging economies eager to modernize their industry.
South China Morning Post
- China’s African port interests are expanding. Is the PLA Navy next on deck? — Beijing’s trade bets on African ports are paying off, but protecting those investments could mean repurposing facilities for military use, analysts say.
- In SAFE hands: China’s secret plan for a US$1 trillion reserves fund in Hong Kong — Cheng Hao, the man involved in the rescue of China’s 2015 market crash, runs what is the world’s third largest wealth fund in Hong Kong.
- China’s latest plan to boost consumption is ‘most comprehensive’ since 1970s — The 30-point strategy to drive up consumer spending tackles a slew of underlying issues, from low wages to the real estate crisis.
Nikkei Asia
- Volkswagen, Renault draw closer to China on EVs despite EU tariffs — Earnings shrink at 5 European automakers, spurring cost-saving tie-ups with China.
- China’s top telecom software maker plans DeepSeek-powered expansion — CTO says AsiaInfo targets overseas energy and infrastructure network projects.
- China consumer watchdog show has no bite for foreign brands — Program avoids high-profile global companies in change of tone from past years.
- Chain of Chinese ‘migration for education’ thrives in Japan — Parents buy real estate near prestigious schools, including University of Tokyo, to secure opportunities.
- Chinese robot vacuums leave Roomba in the dust with arms and legs — Robotic arms, legs and lower prices present challenge to embattled U.S. company.
Bloomberg
- China Plans for Global CEOs to Meet Xi in Beijing Next Week — Global CEOs including Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon and Saudi Aramco’s Amin Nasser will travel to Beijing for an annual gathering of top executives, people familiar with the matter say, with some expected to meet President Xi Jinping and other top leaders.
- China’s Leapmotor Says It Can Weather an Expansion of Chip Curbs — Electric vehicle maker Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., which uses chips from Qualcomm Inc. and Nvidia Corp., said it would be able to ride out any escalation in US curbs on the flow of advanced chips to China.
- Chinese Stock Investors Embrace ‘Xi Put’ Just as Trump Roils US — President Xi Jinping’s push for economic expansion and tech innovation is feeding optimism that Chinese stocks will continue this year’s advance and widen their lead over churning US equities.
Reuters
- China’s Ecarx explores US entry, in talks with VW to develop smart cars for Europe, CEO says — The plan underscores growing efforts by Western automakers to leverage Chinese prowess in smart-driving technologies to hold onto their global market share after sales declined sharply in China in recent years.
Other Publications
- POLITICO: White House seriously considering deal from Oracle to run TikTok — Any deal could face security concerns from China hawks in Congress.
