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
- Xi Fights Trump’s Tariffs With Global Charm Offensive — The Chinese leader is seeking to win over trade partners caught between U.S. tariffs and oversupply by his country.
- U.S. Tries to Crush China’s AI Ambitions With Chips Crackdown — New chip restrictions for Nvidia and AMD show the Trump administration’s determination to battle China on tech advances as well as trade.
- Chinese Investors Pile Into Big Tech Even as Tariffs Jolt Markets — Technology stocks in Hong Kong have fallen in April as markets were roiled by U.S. tariffs, but that hasn’t stopped mainland Chinese investors from pouring billions into the sector.
- Chinese Tech Giants Help Exporters’ Efforts at Domestic Expansion — Tencent and ByteDance’s Douyin are helping cross-border merchants sell goods in the domestic market as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies escalates.
- Viral Videos, Trade Tensions Drive U.S. Shoppers to Chinese App — DHgate became the second-most popular app on Apple’s U.S. App Store.
- Nvidia Is Now the Biggest U.S.-China Bargaining Chip — Ban on sales of H20 chips calls into question company’s ability to continually beat Wall Street’s lofty expectations.
- Opinion: Is Chinese AI All It’s Cracked Up to Be? — Beijing is pushing a tech challenge to the U.S., but Washington can counter it with smart policies. By Thomas J. Duesterberg.
The Financial Times
- Trump’s policies could give China lead in global energy race, say experts — Trade war and cleantech retreat are threats to US producers and may boost Beijing.
- Nvidia chief Jensen Huang flies to Beijing for talks — Meetings with Chinese vice-premier and DeepSeek founder come after US clamps down on chipmaker’s sales to China.
- China seeks reset with EU amid Trump’s trade war — Beijing eyes rapprochement with Brussels to compensate for loss of US market but significant hurdles remain.
- BHP says global economy depends on China boosting consumption — World’s biggest miner says tariff impact ‘limited’ so far.
- US House panel probes whether DeepSeek used restricted Nvidia chips — Lawmakers say the Chinese AI group is a ‘profound threat’ to national security.
- US places sanctions on Chinese refinery over Iran oil purchases — Trump administration accuses Shandong Shengxing Chemical of buying crude as it increases pressure on Beijing and Tehran.
- Nvidia blindsided by Trump’s curbs in multibillion-dollar blow to China sales — US chipmaker reveals $5.5bn impairment, while full hit to China revenues could surpass $10bn.
- Chinese tea chain Chagee aims for $400mn New York IPO despite tariff war — Maker of ‘teaspressos’ and ‘teapuccinos’ could be second-biggest Chinese listing in US in more than three years.
- Opinion: The Chinese Dream is to Xi what Maga is to Trump — Tariff conflict arises out of the collision course between two very different political mindsets. By Stephen Roach.
The New York Times
- Can China Fight Deflation and Trump’s Tariffs at the Same Time? — China is facing a double whammy: corrosive deflation and tariffs that threaten to block trade. Chinese workers will be the biggest casualties.
- Nvidia C.E.O. Meets With Chinese Trade Officials in Beijing — The day before the visit by Jensen Huang, lawmakers in Washington said they were investigating whether the chipmaker’s sales in China violated U.S. rules.
- China Wants Countries to Unite Against Trump, but Is Met With Wariness — Beijing is using a mix of carrots and sticks to try to prevent other countries from siding with the United States in isolating China.
- Ex-N.Y.P.D. Detective Gets 18 Months for Stalking Man on China’s Behalf — Michael McMahon was convicted in 2023 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, stalking and conspiracy. His case was among several in Brooklyn linked to Chinese repression.
- How Brazil’s Rare Earths Mine Illustrates China’s Grip Over Minerals — A Brazilian rare earths mine backed by American investors illustrates China’s grip over the strategic minerals that underpin the modern economy.
- US Officials Target Nvidia and DeepSeek Amid Fears of China’s A.I. Progress — China’s success in artificial intelligence has the Trump administration and lawmakers weighing rules and investigations to slow Beijing’s progress in the industry.
- Amazon Sellers Struggle with Trump’s Tariff Plans — An Illinois couple who sell party supplies on Amazon have been frantically trying to understand and adapt to new costs caused by President Trump’s tariffs.
- How China Took Over the World’s Rare Earths Industry — China seized mines and built factories. Japan took note and invested in Australia. But the United States did little despite concerns about control of supplies.
- Opinion: The Chinese Hegemony Could Be Here Soon — It has simmering problems of its own, but China is ready to take center stage. By David Wallace-Wells.
- Opinion: Trump Has Botched His Tariff War With China — Trump thinks he holds all the cards in this high-stakes game, but he’s wrong. By Robert Wu.
Caixin
- Chinese Banks Chase Opportunities Overseas Amid Struggles at Home — Lenders see promise in M&A and cross-border financial services as their domestic business has been battered by falling interest rates and threatened by souring retail loans.
- Huawei Launches New Auto Brand as Rivals Pull Ahead — Huawei has unveiled a fifth electric vehicle brand under its alliance partnership, this time with state-owned SAIC Motor, as it falters in China’s EV race.
- Chinese E-Commerce App Sees Spike in U.S. Downloads as Tariff War Heats Up — Business-to-business platform DHgate shot to the top of Apple’s App Store this week as American shoppers hunt bargains.
South China Morning Post
- Chinese AI pioneer DeepSeek branded ‘profound threat’ to US national security — Congressional report says the company has Communist Party links and is ‘siphoning data’ from the US and sending it to Beijing.
- Desperate for sales, China’s traders chase risky deals in emerging markets — With the US market closed off, Chinese exporters are scouring the globe to find new buyers – with mixed results.
- BYD’s US$18,300 electric SUV has autopilot-like system, and a DJI drone in premium model — BYD slashed the price of the Titanium 3, which includes its new advanced driver assistance system, at the last minute, capitalising on Tesla’s China challenges.
- As tariffs cut US-China supply chains, how are firms picking up the pieces? — With full US-China decoupling looking closer than ever – though not a certainty – suppliers are rapidly evaluating their relationships and options.
- Opinion: China’s ties with the Americas are a net positive for the whole region — Instead of stubbornly hanging onto the Monroe Doctrine, Washington should embrace Beijing’s relationships with the US’ southern neighbours. By Jiang Shixue.
Nikkei Asia
- Trump tariffs ironically cast spotlight on Beijing-led free trade — The U.S. trades places and now advocates for 1990s Chinese-style protectionism.
- Alibaba, JD.com move to help China’s exporters amid Trump tariffs — E-commerce giants plan to aid smaller vendors in developing local customers.
- China leads world in quality of EV patents, says think tank — Licensing intellectual property could help automakers avoid Trump tariff.
- China’s ban on Boeing deliveries likely a win for Indian airlines — Air India and other carriers are waiting on hundreds of back orders for new jets.
- Opinion: ‘Pause’ or no pause, uncertainty around Asian economy remains high — Negotiations between China and U.S. are key. By Chetan Ahya.
Bloomberg
- Xi Urges ‘Asian Family’ Unity as Trump Seeks to Confine China — Chinese President Xi Jinping promoted the idea of an “Asian family” and called for regional unity during a tour of Southeast Asia, in an apparent effort to counter US pressure on nations to limit trade ties with Beijing.
- Why China Is Hoping $1.6 Trillion Can Fix Its Hidden Debt Problem — China’s government has spent at least 3 trillion yuan ($408 billion) in the last six months to bankroll its hugely indebted local governments.
- US Looks to Box In China by Recruiting Other Trading Partners — The Trump administration is preparing to pressure nations to curb trade with China in negotiations over US tariffs, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Opinion: Five Signs That the US and China Will Go to War — While the two nations fight it out on trade, less-noticed concerns are taking place in cyberspace, near Taiwan and at Chinese shipyards. By James Stavridis.
- Opinion: Xi’s Asian Charm Offensive Is All About the US — The Chinese leader is reminding the region who is a better friend. By Karishma Vaswani.
Reuters
- Global shippers await word on US plan to hit China-linked vessels with port fees — The U.S. Trade Representative’s office will announce its plan on Thursday for levying port fees on China-linked ships as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and counter China’s dominance on the high seas.
- ‘Resist protectionism,’ China’s Xi tells Cambodia amid US tariff standoff — Xi urged Phnom Penh to oppose “hegemonism” and “protectionism”, repeating messages he sent earlier this week to Vietnam and Malaysia during the first two legs of his trip.
- China’s US bond holdings are going nowhere fast — With China and the United States engaged in a full-on trade war, anxious investors are asking which side can press its financial advantage given Beijing’s vast holdings of U.S. Treasuries.
Other Publications
- BBC: Aboard the ‘silver trains’, China’s retirees do their bit to offset Trump’s tariffs — A new initiative aims to boost the local economy by attracting elderly travellers to remote parts of the country.
- Foreign Policy: Trump’s Tariffs Hit Hard Tech Realities — China’s role in smartphone and chip supply chains is blunting the U.S. president’s ambitions—at least for now.
- Foreign Affairs: China’s Double Game in Myanmar — How Beijing Is Manipulating Civil Conflict to Secure Regional Dominance.
- POLITICO: Trump wants to make a deal with China. Here’s how he’s trying to make that happen. — The administration’s theory of the case is that tariff deals with other countries will isolate China — and urge them to come to the table.
- The Washington Post: Amid Trump’s trade war, China launches a PR blitz (and it might win) — China has long tried to present itself as the world’s true champion of globalization, with little success. Now Beijing has a new opening to push its message.
- The New Yorker: China’s Plan to Fight Trump’s Trade War — A professor at M.I.T. on how Xi Jinping is likely to respond to U.S. tariffs and why the standoff won’t weaken the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on power.
- The Economist: Chinese officials are encouraging office workers not to work so hard — More free time means more consumption, they hope.
