Day: April 26, 2025

Michael Mullaney’s mind was elsewhere during the market rebound this week, even as stocks surged, borrowing costs for Corporate America eased and Treasuries settled down. Advertisement Instead, the head of research at value-investing firm Boston Partners found himself checking and rechecking economic data that he fears show early signs of the damage already caused by Donald Trump’s trade war. Signals like dwindling Los Angeles shipping volumes, declining tourism-related travel and shrinking credit-card receipts in key consumer sectors. His cautious stance runs counter to his peers plunging back into risk assets…

Ryan Zhou, the owner of a business making novelty gifts in eastern China, has been working flat out since April to open a new factory in an unfamiliar location: Dallas, Texas. Advertisement The 38-year-old has been pulling 14-hour shifts for weeks as he rushes to find warehouses, arrange shipping and obtain US work visas for his employees, with the new facility set to open in May. Shifting production to the American South has been a complex process, but Zhou feels he has no choice: unless he can find a way…

As the world comes to terms with the United States’ imposition of trade tariffs, the anniversary of the Bandung Conference offers a timely reminder of how, at the height of the Cold War, a group of like-minded countries came together to build solidarity and push for a fairer system of international relations. Advertisement From April 18 to 24, 1955, Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, welcomed 28 leaders from Asian and African countries to Bandung on the island of Java. The conference is today seen as a watershed moment for the Global…

A bitter war of words has broken out between two Chinese Big Tech food delivery firms, each backed by billionaires who are household names in the country, with the fallout wiping billions of dollars from their market values. Advertisement JD.com founder Richard Liu Qiangdong, with a personal net worth of US$6.3 billion, started the rivalry in February by marketing his firm as a better partner than industry leader Meituan, backed by tycoon Wang Xing who is worth US$10 billion, when it came to the treatment of restaurants and gig economy…

Nearly 100 days in, Donald Trump’s second term as US president has been defined by his determination to upend the established order on nearly all fronts of domestic and foreign policy. In the fifth part of this series, we look at the chaotic landscape in global trade after Trump’s shock increase – and temporary reduction – of tariffs for almost every US trading partner. Advertisement Those with a vested interest in global trade – that is to say, almost everyone – are likely treating themselves for whiplash after attempting to…

China has expanded an initiative to create a new academic discipline that aims to stamp out Western bias in ethnic studies as Beijing works to consolidate its narrative on a unified national identity. Advertisement The State Council, China’s cabinet, granted 15 more universities approval to set up study programmes in “community for the Chinese nation”, a field of study first launched at Beijing’s Minzu University of China last year, according to state news agency Xinhua on Monday. The new discipline takes its name from a phrase coined by President Xi…

China’s tightening export controls on critical minerals could hit more than three-quarters of the United States’ weapons supply chain, according to a new study. Advertisement Researchers from Govini, a defence acquisition information firm, identified 80,000 weapons parts that were made using antimony, gallium, germanium, tungsten or tellurium – the global supply of which are all dominated by China – “meaning nearly 78 per cent of all [Pentagon] weapon systems are potentially affected”. “China’s recent export bans and restrictions on critical minerals have exposed an open secret: despite political rhetoric, the…