Day: May 1, 2025

The Chinese leadership’s renewed emphasis on accelerating Shanghai’s emergence as a global financial centre reaffirms Beijing’s commitment to the long-standing vision as rising tensions with the United States pose potential financial risks, analysts said. Advertisement During a symposium in Shanghai, Vice-Premier He Lifeng called on Tuesday for efforts to speed up the city’s development as a global financial centre. He was accompanying President Xi Jinping on the Chinese leader’s first inspection tour since sweeping US tariffs escalated a trade war. “There have been precedents of vice-premiers in charge of financial…

China is assessing whether to start trade negotiations with the United States following representations from Washington, the Ministry of Commerce said on Friday, signalling a possible easing of the tit-for-tit tariff war between the world’s two largest economies. Advertisement “China has noted the repeated statements from senior US officials expressing a willingness to negotiate with China on tariff issues,” a ministry spokesperson said. “At the same time, the US side has recently taken the initiative to relay messages to China through relevant channels, expressing a desire to engage in talks.…

From Sun Tzu to Carl von Clausewitz, strategists have long emphasised that the key to winning a war lies in the clear alignment of purpose, goal and means, coupled with a deep understanding of the adversary. Advertisement Without these, a stronger opponent will inevitably lose to a weaker foe who possesses them. This is the immutable law of war. A month into Donald Trump’s global tariff war, even the president’s closest associates have struggled to agree on or articulate a coherent purpose, goal or strategy for Washington to prevail in…

Shi Xinchuan, the owner of a hardware store in northern Vietnam, spends a lot of time these days sitting alone in his empty shop, while his mind fills with anxious theories about who will get hurt – and how badly – by US tariffs. Advertisement Since he moved from his native China, the 24-year-old has made a living by supplying companies in the city of Bac Ninh with adhesives, electronic components and other goods. But many of his localised Chinese clients are now facing a crisis as US President Donald…

Saying they cannot afford to wait while trade negotiations unfold, small businesses are calling for relief from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, warning that surging costs and disrupted supply chains were pushing many companies to the brink of collapse. Advertisement At an event organised Thursday by the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, small business owners and industry experts urgently sought immediate action as a growing number of US companies – large and small – brace for the disruptive impact of tariffs. The chamber – the country’s largest trade group,…