Month: April 2025

Trump’s tariffs and China cloud post-Lee Singapore poll

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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. Singapore’s election outcome this week is set to provide a rare moment of relative certainty for its citizens, as Donald Trump’s trade war changes the world on which the country has built its wealth since independence 60 years ago. Barring an almost unthinkable upset, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will extend the dominance of his People’s Action party with its 16th consecutive victory on Saturday, making it one of the most…

Tariffs hit home for small US businesses that rely on Chinese imports

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Small US businesses that have relied on Chinese manufacturing are in a bind as Donald Trump’s tariffs begin to bite, with few able to find US factories that will produce their wares. As the Trump administration pushes ahead with 145 per cent levies on imports from China, there are growing worries that trade paralysis could crush small businesses that have blossomed with the aid of Chinese labour, materials and technology.…

Chinese traders in world’s largest wholesale market adjust to fewer US buyers

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The American accent is conspicuously scarce among foreign buyers wandering the aisles of China’s largest wholesale market – a sprawling global bazaar in Yiwu city offering everything from Christmas decorations to power tools. Advertisement Arabic, Russian and Spanish are more commonly heard in negotiations between buyers and sellers. And mirroring a lack of US buyers on the ground in China, Washington’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods appear to be having a relatively small impact on traders in the world’s capital for small commodities. Some of the vendors in Yiwu say…

China’s manufacturing activity shrinks as US tariffs take effect 

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world China’s manufacturing activity contracted by the most since 2023 in April, according to an official survey, in an early sign of the economic impact from US President Donald Trump’s trade war. The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at 49, the weakest level since December 2023. A reading of above 50 marks an expansion on the previous month. The data covers a period in which the…

Trump hails tariffs – but list of achievements from his administration barely mentions them

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The White House has framed US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs policy as the end of “the era of economic surrender”, positioning it as a cornerstone of his economic agenda. Advertisement However, official press releases from the White House and Treasury Department made few direct mentions of tariffs, and no reference at all to “reciprocal tariffs,” instead emphasising broader economic indicators such as job growth, investment, inflation and regulatory cuts. 01:38 ‘Fake news’: Chinese officials dismiss claims of US trade war consultations ‘Fake news’: Chinese officials dismiss claims of US…

China’s manufacturing activity contracts as tariffs take effect 

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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. China’s manufacturing activity contracted in April, according to an official survey, in a sign of the impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade war on the economy. The country’s official purchasing managers’ index came in at 49, the lowest level since December 2023. A reading of above 50 marks an expansion. The data covers a period in which a trade war between the US and China escalated dramatically, with tariffs…

China’s factory activity contracts as tariffs darken trade landscape

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China’s factory activity fell back into contractionary territory in April as manufacturers bore the weight of weeks of tit-for-tat tariff increases by the world’s two largest economies. Advertisement The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reading for April was 49, falling short of the 50.5 reported in March and landing 0.6 percentage points lower than the 49.6 forecast from economists polled by Bloomberg. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector, while one below 50 reflects contraction. Within the broader PMI reading, the new orders subindex stood at 49.2 in…

Canada now likely has more latitude to work with China if US tensions persist: analysts

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Canada’s new government is likely to have more political latitude to work with China if tensions with America persist, analysts said, as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party secured a win in an election defined by voter hostility to US President Donald Trump’s trade war and aggressive rhetoric targeting Canada. Advertisement In a related vein, Canada’s appetite for political alignment with the US on China, its second-largest trading partner, is expected to wane, analysts added. “There are real pressures [within Canada] for a realistic assessment of China possibilities in light…

Protests by unpaid Chinese workers spread amid factory closures

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Protests by workers demanding back wages are spreading across China in a sign of growing discontent among millions suffering the brunt of factory closures, triggered by steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports amid an economic downturn. Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals by factories that were forced to shut…

Hedging our bets: the existential questions facing Australia’s next government in unpredictable times

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The world is a more dangerous place. Global conflicts have doubled over the past five years, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled). In 2024 alone, one person in eight across the world was exposed to conflict: political violence increased by a quarter, by factors worse in countries that held elections. Australian political leaders of all stripes couch it in shared aphorism: the most “challenging strategic circumstances since WWII”. Violence, of course, never went away. It ebbed in some periods, but the myth of the triumph of liberal…