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
- China Signals Openness to U.S. Trade Talks—but Not Under Duress — President Trump has said China tariffs ‘will come down substantially.’
- Chinese Scientists in America Come Under New Wave of Suspicion — FBI scrutiny and visa revocations under President Trump are worrying STEM researchers as China looks to recruit them to come home.
- Five-Minute EV Charging Is Here, but Not for U.S.-Made Cars — CATL and BYD’s rapid-charging technology underscores China’s dominance in the EV sector, a technological priority for Xi Jinping.
The Financial Times
- Scott Bessent says U.S. and China need to de-escalate trade war — Treasury secretary tempers optimism over negotiations with Beijing in closed-door meeting.
- U.S. markets rally as Treasury secretary says China trade war is ‘unsustainable’ — Scott Bessent tells investors he expects the two countries to reach a deal that would end restrictions on flow of goods.
- Mercedes-Benz chief warns tariffs fuel highest ‘complexity’ in three decades — China’s biggest car show hears German group’s ability ‘to import and export in all directions’ is affected.
- China and Brics will ‘defend’ global order as Trump withdraws, Brazil says — Developing nations are ‘main defenders’ of global diplomacy, argues president’s top foreign policy adviser.
- The Chinese factory jobs Trump wants to bring back — Manufacturers struggle to attract young workers for physically demanding roles with long hours and low pay.
- Opinion: What would a U.S. tariff on chips look like? — A component levy on foreign-made semiconductors would function as a major tax increase on electronics sold in America. By Chris Miller.
The New York Times
- Treasury Secretary Bessent Talks China Trade War De-Escalation and Tax Cuts — Scott Bessent told a group of investors that he expected trade tensions with China to de-escalate.
- Elon Musk Warns China’s Rare Earth Restrictions May Delay Tesla Robots — China’s halt this month on exports of magnets containing heavy rare earth metals has affected Tesla’s plans to manufacture Optimus robots.
- An Army of Robots Is China’s Weapon in Trump’s Tariff War — Enormous investments in factory equipment and artificial intelligence are giving China an edge in car manufacturing and other industries.
- Trump’s Trade War With China Puts Japan in a Tight Spot — Japan had long maintained deep economic ties with both China and the United States. Recent trade tensions may challenge that approach.
Caixin
- China’s Solar Firms Rekindle Strategy as U.S. Prepares Tariff Tsunami on Southeast Asia — U.S. considers tariffs as high as 3,500% on solar panels from four Southeast Asian countries.
- Why China’s Tax Revenue Is Falling Even as GDP Jumps — The 3.5% drop in revenue can be attributed to factors including falling prices and tax cuts, but a source says that a jump in VAT refunds also plays a role.
- Interview: China’s Vast Market Can Be Key to Trade Negotiations — Economist Shang-Jin Wei says that emphasizing the country’s demand for imports could help persuade its trade partners not to give in to U.S. pressure.
- Viral Videos Promising Dirt-Cheap Luxury Goods Spark Doubts — Genuine suppliers probably wouldn’t throw away lucrative deals with brands to chase retail customers, industry players say.
- China’s Shipbuilders Won’t Be Only Ones Hurt by Planned U.S. Port Fees, Experts Say — Global shipping companies and end customers will likely also pay a price for the steep docking charges on Chinese-built ships that are set to take effect in October.
South China Morning Post
- No need for Nvidia: iFlytek touts reasoning model trained entirely with Huawei’s AI chips — iFlytek on Monday boasted that its Xinghuo X1 reasoning model had matched OpenAI o1 and DeepSeek R1 in overall performance.
- As China’s birth rates drop, has Guangdong become the country’s ‘golden child’? — While the rest of China attempts to boost birth rates as the population ages, why has the southern province stayed relatively resilient?
- China’s troubled energy-storage sector reels from price war, tariff blows — Slower capital spending and weaker prices projected as tariffs set to hit China’s biggest export market for energy-storage systems..
- China’s memory chip giant CXMT issues rare recruitment ad for Japanese branch — The hiring notice sheds light on CXMT’s Japanese subsidiary for the first time since it was established in 2020.
Nikkei Asia
- How China’s rare-earth curbs complicate West’s diversification push — Demand for non-China magnets is surging but upping capacity is no easy feat.
- Chinese goods evade Trump tariffs via false ‘Made in Korea’ labeling — South Korea reports spike in fraudulent practice ahead of trade talks with U.S.
- ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent stockpile billions worth of Nvidia chips — Chinese internet giants aimed to snap up 1 million H20s before latest U.S. curbs.
Bloomberg
- In China’s Backyard, Steel Buyer Vietnam Is Trying to Stem a Tide of Cheap Metal — A trade war between the world’s two largest economies has caught this Southeast Asian nation in the crossfire.
- China’s Surprise Resilience Aids Copper as Global Risks Mount — Chinese buyers’ appetite remains intact, especially when prices have pulled back.
Reuters
- Exclusive: ‘China Track’ bank netting system shields Russia-China trade from Western eyes — Chinese banks had grown too cautious to do business with Russia and jeopardize their ties with the United States.
- Sinopec resumes Russian oil purchase after short pause amid sanctions risks, sources say — Sinopec resumed purchases of Russian oil after a brief pause last month to assess risks from sanctions imposed by the United States on Russian entities.
- Exclusive: U.S.-China fentanyl talks hang by thread amid trade war — The two sides are exchanging intelligence about traffickers and communicate frequently.
- Exclusive: Singapore’s PSA weighs selling 20% stake in CK Hutchison’s ports business, sources say — Whether PSA ultimately decides to sell will depend on whether CK Hutchison goes ahead with the transaction, sources said.
- Exclusive: China EV giant BYD reboots Europe operations after strategic stumbles, sources say — BYD is overhauling its European operations after strategic missteps including failures to sign up enough dealers and hire executives with local-market knowledge and to offer hybrids in markets resistant to fully electric vehicles.
Other Publications
- ProPublica: Fentanyl Pipeline: How a Chinese Prison Helped Fuel a Deadly Drug Crisis in the United States — Veteran federal agents told ProPublica that China has failed to cooperate and even interfered with drug investigations; China insists it has cracked down.
- The Economist: Amid a trade war, Xi Jinping may be purging China’s armed forces — Why the tariff confrontation is not the only thing on his mind.
- WIRED: Bad News for China: Rare Earth Elements Aren’t That Rare — China is limiting U.S. access to critical minerals in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the move isn’t as devastating as Beijing wants it to be.
- Foreign Policy: Trump’s Trade War Should Target China’s Forced Labor — Coerced Uyghur workers are still part of the export chain.
- BBC: ‘I’ve had 100 operations and will never stop’ — inside China’s cosmetic surgery boom —Face-scanning apps, social media influencers and toxic beauty standards are fuelling China’s cosmetic surgery boom.
- Rest of World: Chinese sellers and U.S. buyers prepare for the end of ultracheap shopping — Temu and Shein are set to raise prices ahead of the de minimis loophole’s closure.
- CSIS: Analyzing the Impact of the U.S.-China Trade War on China’s Energy Transition — The country’s progress on its emission and environmental targets has large-scale implications for global trade and investment.
