Month: April 2025

China’s military rapidly expands use of low-cost AI-powered drones in ‘phased leap’

Media Library

China’s military is rapidly deploying cutting-edge AI-powered drones that are low-cost and agile on the battlefield, as it races to gain an edge in the modern warfare technology. Advertisement One of the latest – a micro drone that looks like a thermal flask and weighs less than a kilogram – was featured on state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday. The micro drone is the first of its kind and is designed for use across the People’s Liberation Army infantry units, according to the report. It said the drone’s coaxial dual-rotor system…

US declaration of world trade war tests resolve of WTO members

Media Library

The World Trade Organization is one of those multilateral institutions that US President Donald Trump’s administration loathes so much that it has suspended its financial support. But the president’s unilateral declaration of trade war on the world could give it a new lease of life, argues the WTO’s director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. She says US behaviour — applying and lifting tariffs at will — has reminded the other 165 members of the importance of its rules-based system.  Especially important is the “most favoured nation” (MFN) principle, which means you commit to…

Nevada lithium miner confident of finding new investor despite weak prices

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Mining myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The owner of a Nevada lithium mining project is confident of finding a new investor despite a slump in the price of the metal, as it eyes a role in the push to build a domestic critical minerals industry in the US. Australia-based Ioneer is seeking a new partner to replace South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater, which pulled out of a deal to buy a 50 per cent stake in the Rhyolite Ridge…

Trump’s tariff thunderbolt strikes a world with proven resilience

Media Library

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world It is tempting to see Donald Trump and his wrecking policies on trade as a destructive thunderbolt from a clear blue sky. Certainly many of his domestic policies, even compared with his first term, have taken a sharper and more definitive turn towards the extreme. In the case of trade and globalisation, however, there is perhaps a little more continuity, not just with his first time in office…

Companies find themselves caught in deglobalisation crossfire

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. As Donald Trump’s tariff war unleashes chaos, political leaders in Asia and Europe have declared that the era of post-cold war prosperity from global trade may finally be coming to a close. “We are in the midst of a messy transition globally. To what, nobody can tell,” Singaporean prime minister Lawrence Wong said earlier this month, adding that nations were “turning inward” and “prioritising their own narrow interests”. Polish Prime…

Emerging markets set to become battlegrounds in trade war

Media Library

On a recent trip to Pakistan, emerging markets investor James Johnstone travelled around in a Chinese-made BYD car to visit production facilities built by China’s Xiaomi to make cheap mobile phones. The reach of some of China’s biggest brand names into the south Asian economy is symbolic of a shift in global trade that has been obscured by US-China tariff tensions. It has been characterised not only by Beijing’s relocation of exports, but also by China shifting investments in low-cost manufacturing to developing nations, as it gears up for a…

China’s copper supplies set to run out as US tariffs bite, says Mercuria

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. China’s copper stockpiles are on track to dwindle to nothing in just a few months, as the market suffers “one of the greatest tightening shocks” in its history on fears of US tariffs, according to senior executives at commodities trading house Mercuria. Huge US demand, as buyers rush to get their hands on copper ahead of the potential imposition of levies by the Trump administration, was sucking imports of the…

Hong Kong frees four pro-democracy lawmakers after completing jail terms

Media Library

Hong Kong has released four former opposition lawmakers who were among dozens of pro-democracy leaders jailed under the city’s controversial National Security Law (NSL). The four – Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan – had pleaded guilty and were each sentenced to four years and two months behind bars in November. They were released on Tuesday because the fact they they had been in prison since their arrests in 2021 was taken into account when calculating their sentence. The four lawmakers were part of a group known…

‘The eighth wonder of the world’: China’s terracotta warriors to march on Australia for blockbuster show

Media Library

Two thousand years ago, in a bid to conquer death itself, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang commissioned a city of the dead: a 49 sq km mausoleum guarded by an army of clay warriors, built to defend his tomb for eternity. When farmers near Xi’an unearthed the first clay head in 1974, they cracked open one of humanity’s greatest archaeological mysteries, with more than 8,000 Terracotta Warriors discovered over the last 50 years. Now, fragments of that dream of immortality rise again – this time in Perth, where the…

Chinese carmakers reset European ambitions as EU tariffs bite

Media Library

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world Chinese carmakers expanding into Europe are being forced to readjust their short-term ambitions as tariff roadblocks have slowed product launches and made their electric vehicles less affordable. The rapid rise of Chinese-made electric vehicles — with their low pricing and advanced software features — has sparked protectionist measures in both the US and EU, with Brussels last year imposing tariffs of up to 45 per cent on EVs from…