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
- Forget McDonald’s. This Chinese Fast-Food Chain Is Now the World’s Biggest. — It sells ice cream and sugary drinks for under $1. Its mascot looks like the love child of Frosty the Snowman and the Michelin Man. And its stores relentlessly blare a jingle set to the tune of “Oh! Susanna.”
- Chinese Buyers Are Ordering Nvidia’s Newest AI Chips, Defying U.S. Curbs — Traders offered servers containing the company’s Blackwell chips by routing them through third parties in nearby regions.
- China’s Manufacturing Activity Accelerated in February — A private gauge showed China’s manufacturing activity expanding at the fastest pace in three months, signaling a trend of improvement consistent with the official index.
- Two Small Adversaries of Russia and China Are Swapping Notes to Survive — Taiwan and the Czech Republic, living in the shadow of Russia and China, have found common cause.
- A Guide to China’s Role in the Fentanyl Crisis as Trump Targets Beijing — A lack of trust and the whack-a-mole nature of stamping out the chemicals used to make the drug help explain why the war against fentanyl has been so intractable.
- The Countries Driving America’s $1.2 Trillion Trade Deficit in Goods — Growing gaps with Mexico and Vietnam add to the biggest imbalance the U.S. faces—with China.
- China Tells Its AI Leaders to Avoid U.S. Travel Over Security Concerns — Beijing increasingly views cutting-edge technology through a national-interest lens, putting executives on a tighter leash.
- China’s Manufacturing Activity Expanded as Trade Risks Loom — Activity in China’s sprawling manufacturing sector expanded in February, a surprise upswing despite fresh hits from U.S. tariffs, underscoring the economy’s resilience after Beijing’s stimulus pivot since last fall.
- The Chinese EV Maker Threatening Ford and GM — Lei Jun set out to build the “Apple of China.” Xiaomi’s car business is now outpacing Tesla and Rivian.
- Opinion: Trump’s Old World Order — Does he want deals with Russia and China to carve up the planet? He should tell Americans. By The Editorial Board.
The Financial Times
- China’s $1 bubble tea chain soars 43% in Hong Kong debut — Mixue’s IPO, city’s biggest in year to date, highlights investor focus on China’s price-conscious consumers.
- Singapore probes suspected fraud in sales of US-controlled Nvidia chips — Arrests made in city-state after raids on 22 locations.
- China adviser pushes for lower marriage age to boost births — Thousands of delegates gather in Beijing for annual meeting of country’s rubber-stamp parliament.
- China’s small exporters look for plan B as Trump quashes trade loophole — Tax exemption that provides crucial lifeline to thousands of businesses set to disappear.
- Military delegates lose sway at China’s signature political gathering — Xi Jinping’s purges have cast shadow over Beijing’s rubber stamp legislature.
- Opinion: Chinese importers’ tactic for beating US tariffs: pile it high — Warehouses have become buffers against political volatility. By Lex.
The New York Times
- Clock Ticks Down Toward Sweeping Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China — President Trump could still choose to pause the tariffs he is threatening to put on America’s largest trading partners Tuesday, but industries are preparing for the worst.
- Trump Turns Up Trade Pressure on China After Beijing Fails to Come Running — China is still cautiously trying to figure out what Trump wants. The president has threatened big tariffs in response to the inaction.
- Greenland’s Minerals: The Harsh Reality Behind the Glittering Promise — There is excitement about the potentially lucrative resources scattered around the island, especially the rare earths. But extreme weather, fired-up environmentalists and other factors have tempered hopes of a bonanza.
- China’s Vow of ‘Leniency’ in Plea Deals Erodes Rights to Fair Trial — China has embraced a plea deal system, but lawyers and scholars fear that it is being abused to further erode individual rights — and for shakedowns.
- Mexico’s Response to Trump’s Tariffs: Troops, Cartels and China — Aiming to appease President Trump, Mexico is hitting China with tariffs, handing cartel leaders over to the United States and using C.I.A. intelligence to hunt down others.
- Professor, Scrutinized for Ties to China, Sues to Get His Job Back — Feng Tao, who was tenured at the University of Kansas, was cleared of charges brought under a discontinued Trump program aimed at Chinese spying.
- As Musk Consolidates Power, His Mother, Maye, Is in Demand — Maye Musk, a model and a public speaker, recently headlined a government conference in Dubai and endorsed a slew of products in China.
- The Dark Heart of Trump’s Foreign Policy — The journalist Fareed Zakaria discusses the worldview emerging from Trump’s foreign policy decisions regarding Ukraine, Gaza, China and beyond.
- How Trump’s Tariffs Could Affect American Companies — Business owners told The Times that President Trump’s tariffs could lead to higher costs and expressed frustration at the sudden uncertainty about policy.
- Why China’s Xiaomi Can Make an Electric Car and Apple Can’t — Xiaomi, which produces smartphones and consumer electronics, delivered 135,000 E.V.s last year after tapping China’s robust manufacturing supply chain.
- Opinion: Restoring Academic Ties With China Is a Matter of U.S. National Security — Decisions on U.S. policy toward China are being made based on diminishing insight into the country’s internal dynamics. By Yanzhong Huang.
Caixin
- Looking to Dodge U.S. Tariffs, Chinese Manufacturers Set Up Shop in Southeast Asia — More factories are filling industrial parks across the region to circumvent U.S. import controls.
- China Expected to Keep GDP Goal Steady, Raise Budget Deficit Target — The official figures are set to be announced Wednesday by Premier Li Qiang, as he addresses the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress after its opening.
- DeepSeek Sets Up Race for Chinese Dominance in AI — DeepSeek’s emergence has ushered in a new era of AI in China, where the focus has shifted from consumer adoption to raw technological advancement.
- Fans Go Wild for Ne Zha Merchandise, but Challenges Lurk Behind the Hype — Spending spree by fans of the animated demon child triggers a boom in products based on intellectual property.
- Opinion: Deepen Rural Reform to Revitalize the Countryside — As China’s urbanization rate approaches 70%, the focus of development has shifted toward urban-rural integration. By Caixin.
South China Morning Post
- Beijing sees red over Marco Rubio’s comments on Taiwan and tariffs — Chinese foreign ministry also objects to Rubio’s revival of the Covid-17 lab leak origin theory.
- Future of Made-in-China: UBTech Robotics deploys first humanoid ‘team’ in car factory — UBTech said it has completed a test to deploy dozens of its Walker S1 robots in the Zeekr EV factory in the Chinese port city of Ningbo.
- Reinventing careers: How 4 laid-off Alibaba workers started a popular bun restaurant — In Hangzhou, four ex-Alibaba employees have launched a thriving eatery that aims to inspire career reinvention.
- IBM shuts China research arm after lay-offs and revenue decline — IBM (China) Investment was established in 1992 to oversee local research and development operations.
- China’s ‘Fantastic Four’: the new breed of entrepreneurs reshaping the global tech landscape — China’s new generation of tech tsars were born after the country began its ‘reform and opening up’ phase.
Nikkei Asia
- China’s Honor to invest $10bn in AI over next 5 years — Company deepening partnerships with Qualcomm, Google to enable ‘agentic’ experiences.
- Advocacy groups warn of challenges policing China-dominated supply chains — Pressure that worked against Western companies has yet to succeed with Chinese firms.
- China takes pain out of savings with gamification — Save-to-play stories from romance to time travel appeal to thrifty young consumers.
- China whiskey makers follow Japan, take shot at global acclaim — Nascent industry attracts investment from beer brewers and foreign liquor giants.
- Opinion: Neither India nor China are equipped to lead the Global South — As Beijing builds factories and New Delhi builds soft power, self-reliance is the only option. By Henny Sender.
Bloomberg
- Xi Prepares to Unveil China Stimulus Plan as Trade War Heats Up — President Xi Jinping heads into China’s biggest political huddle of the year with his economy finally getting back some swagger. Donald Trump’s rising tariffs will test Beijing’s ability to sustain that momentum.
- Trump Heads Toward Tariff Barrage on Canada, Mexico, China — The tariffs may yet be delayed — the Canada and Mexico measures were already stalled once — but any reprieve could prove temporary.
- Opinion: China’s Naval Moves Show the Scale of Its Ambition — Beijing’s military might is on display across Asia. How will Washington respond? By Karishma Vaswani.
Reuters
- How China could boost its weak consumption — Analysts say potential costs in the trillions of dollars and risks that reform could bring instability are making officials wary of bold policy decisions.
- China trade surge poses challenge for Trump’s South America influence — Driven by commodities giants Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina, South America’s exports to China have more than doubled in the past decade.
- Ebbing demand for China’s favourite firewater adds to debt concerns — The premium spirit made locally by Kweichow Moutai has for decades been a fixture at weddings, business dinners and state functions, but its sales in the past two years have been hit by poor consumer and business confidence.
Other Publications
- CFR: From Trade Wars to Trade Wins: How Trump Can Redefine U.S.-China Economic Relations — The United States’ relationship with China is at a new low, but Trump has a chance to redefine bilateral relations by locking China into the U.S.-led global system.
- The Washington Post: How China came to dominate the world in renewable energy — China now eclipses every other country in the world — including the United States — in the green technologies of the future. Here’s how it achieved this lead.
- The New Yorker: When an American Town Massacred Its Chinese Immigrants — In 1885, white rioters murdered dozens of their Asian neighbors in Rock Springs, Wyoming. A hundred and forty years later, the story of the atrocity is still being unearthed.
- MIT Technology Review: How DeepSeek became a fortune teller for China’s youth — AI-powered BaZi analysis has become the new oracle for a disillusioned generation seeking answers.
