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
- NetEase Profit Jumps as Chinese Videogame Industry Bounces Back — Games revenue was boosted by the resumed distribution of popular Blizzard titles and the success of self-developed ones.
- Bags of Cash From Drug Cartels Flood Teller Windows at U.S. Banks — Chinese money-launderers allegedly made six-figure deposits at Chase, Bank of America and Citibank branches across Los Angeles County.
- How Do Recent De Minimis Changes Affect Retailers? — Companies that ship from China directly to U.S. consumers may want to consider adjustments across their businesses in response to the change.
- EU Wants More In U.S. Trade Deal Than U.K. Or China Got — Negotiations between the EU and the U.S. are making progress, officials said.
- Small China-Linked Firm Plans to Snap Up Trump’s Crypto Token — GD Culture Group plans MicroStrategy-like crypto asset treasury strategy, including by buying the $TRUMP meme coin.
The Financial Times
- How China caught up with Silicon Valley — US tech moguls used to see China as a production hub. Now some are buying slices of its technological future.
- Why China’s cash-rich battery king needs a blockbuster share sale — CATL’s Hong Kong secondary listing set to raise $4.6bn and would be world’s biggest so far this year.
- WTO chief warns US bilateral tariff deals could put trade principle at risk — Comments from Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala highlight concern that pacts may undermine ‘most favoured nation’ equality concept.
- Vietnam faces the heat over Chinese tariff ‘backdoor’ to US — Chinese exports to south-east Asia surge as producers reroute shipments to avoid Donald Trump’s levies.
- Toy group VTech to move production out of China despite tariff reprieve — Hong Kong-based group pushes ahead with plan to shift US-bound production and warns US consumers face higher prices.
- Western carmakers risk wipeout in China, warns Jeep owner Stellantis — Maxime Picat, one of two internal candidates for next group CEO, ‘shocked’ at foreign groups’ loss of market share.
The New York Times
- A Trade War Winner? The Booming Business of Returned Products. — Each day, ReturnPro has more than 500,000 Chinese-made items listed for sale on its various websites, including VIP Outlet, goWholesale and Direct Liquidation.
Caixin
- JD.com Loses More Money on ‘New Businesses’ With Costly Foray Into Food Delivery — The segment, which includes the recently launched JD Takeaway, was 1.3 billion yuan in the red in the first quarter.
- Tencent Pushes Forward on AI Despite U.S. Chip Curbs — Chinese tech giant is using its stockpile of high-performance chips to give a boost to businesses like advertising and gaming.
- China Resumes Rare Earth Exports Under Tight Controls as Global Prices Soar — China’s rare earth magnet exports gradually resume as global prices for the elements have rocketed.
- How a K-Pop Beef Revealed the Chinese Internet’s Cyberbullying Problem — Despite regulations introduced to clamp down on doxing, known as “unboxing” in Chinese, it continues to be a major problem.
- Trump’s Tariff War Will Upend Global Economic Order — Trump’s tariff policy has caused significant turmoil in global stock, bond and currency markets, but has failed to successfully advance the U.S.’ policy goals.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing is a ‘red line’: Hungary vows it won’t decouple from China if pushed by Trump — ‘Hungary is benefiting from these very intensive Chinese economic and trade relations. We’re not willing to give that up’: Budapest official.
- EU ‘has no interest’ in reviving stalled investment deal with China, says trade official — Head of bloc’s trade delegation in Beijing tells forum the two sides should focus on Brussels’ long-standing concerns such as overcapacity.
- Starbucks kicks off process to sell stake in its sprawling China business as growth stalls — Starbucks sent out letters via a financial adviser to several potential investors this week to solicit views on the China business and how to grow it, sources said.
- China to US container bookings soar nearly 300% after trade war truce — The agreement to pause tariffs for 90 days promises early peak shipping – but challenges lie ahead, industry insiders warn.
- Trump’s new chip policy puts spotlight on Huawei’s secretive Ascend AI chips — Huawei’s significance in China’s AI sector stems from its ability to produce advanced chips that rival Nvidia’s in performance.
Nikkei Asia
- Xi Jinping’s basketball buddy at center of US trade talks — Vice Premier He Lifeng’s negotiation skills to be tested during 90-day truce.
- Rare earths race heats up with US-Saudi deal and Shenghe acquisition — MP Materials’ agreement seeks to ‘explore’ development of industry in the kingdom.
- Alibaba’s Q1 revenue falls short as international e-commerce falters — Cloud and AI segments turn in strong performance in sign pivot is paying off.
Bloomberg
- What Huawei’s Comeback Says About US-China Tech War — When the Trump administration blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co. in 2019 over spying concerns, the move almost wiped out the Chinese company’s global smartphone business.
- China’s Investors Signal Trade Truce Is No Panacea for Markets — The trade truce is not enough to ignite a rush into Chinese financial assets amid expectations of reduced policy stimulus and lingering uncertainty on a final deal.
- Opinion: China’s Defense Industry Is Getting a DeepSeek Moment — Investors are reassessing Beijing’s military capacity and potential to rise as an arms exporter. By Shuli Ren.
Reuters
- How Trump’s man in Beijing swung from trade globalist to China hawk — Perdue’s arrival will be closely watched after both sides reached an unexpected truce in Geneva last weekend, pausing a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies that had stoked fears of a global recession.
- Shein to set up huge Vietnam warehouse in US tariff hedge, sources say — Shein, which was founded in China and sells products including $5 bike shorts and $18 sundresses, has agreed to lease nearly 15 hectares of industrial land for a warehouse near Ho Chi Minh City.
- Taiwan cannot rule out China holding more drills as president marks a year in office — Lai rejects China’s sovereignty claims over the democratic and separately governed island, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
Other Publications
- Foreign Affairs: The Risk of War in the Taiwan Strait Is High—and Getting Higher —¸ Beijing’s Worry About the Future Could Spur a Deadly Miscalculation Soon.
- The Economist: China and Russia are deploying powerful new weapons: ideas — The West is retreating from the battle of the narrative.
- CSIS: The Delicate State of U.S.-China Communication Channels — In Trump’s second term, U.S.-China leader-to-leader, economic and trade, and military-to-military communication channels are being tested again.
- Rest of World: Chinese startups once downplayed their origin. Now some celebrate it. — Following DeepSeek’s rise, more Chinese companies are highlighting their roots as they expand overseas.
- Los Angeles Times: Despite a trade truce with China, Silicon Valley is not out of the woods — Silicon Valley will face strong headwinds in the months ahead — the makings of a perfect storm of uncertainty that could still tip the U.S. economy into recession.
- BBC: Relief on China’s factory floors as US tariffs put on hold — This surprise agreement after a weekend of negotiations in Switzerland has given factories and businesses some breathing room.
