Day: April 17, 2025

Trump’s tariffs unravel US supply chains at China’s export showcase

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US business executive Kinu Kelly came to the 137th China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou this week with one goal: to find Chinese suppliers who could make the goods she needs outside the country. “Now, it’s imperative,” said the product development head from New York. “No exceptions.” Kelly’s eagerness to diversify her supply chains is one way attendees at China’s largest and oldest trade show — known as the Canton Fair — are adapting to a new reality for global commerce after US President Donald Trump raised levies on most Chinese…

US rare earth champion faces trade war test after tariffs halt China sales

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The US miner central to America’s efforts to build a domestic rare earths supply chain has halted shipments of its concentrates to China after being caught in the trade war between the two countries. Las Vegas-based MP Materials has emerged as the US’s best hope for overcoming China’s stranglehold on output of rare earths, a group of minerals vital in a swath of high-tech industries. Its New York-listed shares have…

India’s penny-wise pound-foolish tax tactics

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This article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. Veena will be back next week (phew!) but for now I’m still filling in at the controls of India Business Briefing. We have a piece out today about tax raids on foreign companies in India: they do a lot of harm. On a more positive note, I think there’s potential for the “India Stack” to go global, and…

India’s ‘broken’ tax system targets multinationals

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Indian tax authorities have levied a series of huge tax bills against multinationals, undercutting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to bolster the ease of doing business in the country and promote India as a manufacturing alternative to China. In recent months, Volkswagen, Kia and Samsung were issued or have legally contested notices totalling more than $2bn, in an outstanding instance of what critics say are predatory practices by Indian tax authorities against foreign companies operating in the country that threaten to undermine business confidence. The salvo also comes as Modi’s…

Chinese ‘teaspresso’ chain Chagee jumps on Wall Street debut

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Chinese tea company Chagee surged on its Wall Street debut on Thursday, defying concerns about weak investor demand for new US listings and the intensifying trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Shares in the Shanghai-based chain, which specialises in coffee-style drinks such as “teaspressos” and oolong “teapuccinos”, rose as much as 49 per cent on its first day of trading on Nasdaq. The shares retreated during the afternoon…

Sri Lankan police pull plug on Vietnamese monk’s tour until he changes visa

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Sri Lankan police on Thursday blocked Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Minh Tue from continuing his barefoot journey around the South Asian island until he changes his visa, a witness told Radio Free Asia. About 30 police descended on Tue and his group of 37 monks as they had finished eating and were preparing to depart from Narammala, a town about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northeast of the capital Colombo. “They waved a document sent from Vietnam, stating that this group was not a group of real monks, so walking like…

UK bans EVs from some military bases over Chinese spy fears

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Some of Britain’s most secure military sites are restricting access to electric cars over concerns that Chinese technology embedded within the vehicles could be used for spying. Staff at RAF Wyton — an air base in Cambridgeshire that houses intelligence operations — have been told to avoid parking EVs near the base in case sensors on the vehicles can be remotely monitored, according to Ministry of Defence officials. The site…

IMF chief cuts growth forecast over ‘off the charts’ trade uncertainty

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Uncertainty over global trade policies is “off the charts”, the head of the IMF has warned, saying Donald Trump’s tariffs were set to hit global growth, push up prices and potentially play havoc with financial markets. Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday that the ongoing “reboot of the global trading system” by the US, the fund’s biggest shareholder, would lead to “notable markdowns” in growth estimates. But while the IMF will…

New daily weight-loss pill shows success at clinical trial

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A significant trial of a daily weight-loss pill has found that it helped people to shed the pounds and reduce their blood sugar levels, making it a contender to join the new wave of drugs that combat obesity and diabetes. People who took a 36mg pill of orforglipron lost an average of 7.3kg (16lbs) over nine months, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial reported by the drug’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, on Thursday. The trial, which enrolled 559 obese people with type 2 diabetes from the US, China,…

Uyghur rights group calls on hotel chains not to ‘sanitise’ China abuses in Xinjiang

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Almost 200 international hotels are operating or planning to open in Xinjiang, despite calls from human rights groups for global corporations not to help “sanitise” the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in the region, a report has said. The report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) identified 115 operational hotels which the organisation said “benefit from a presence in the Uyghur region”. At least another 74 were in various stages of construction or planning, the report said. The UHRP said some of the hotels also had exposure or links…