Day: May 22, 2025

China vies for lead in the race to self-driving vehicles

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Chinese carmakers have shocked the world’s auto brands with their rapid adoption of electric vehicles. Now the battleground is shifting to autonomous vehicles and many experts believe China is again claiming an early advantage. The battle sees US groups such as Tesla and Waymo, Google’s self-driving project, pitched against BYD, China’s biggest EV group, as well as robotaxis from Pony.ai, Baidu and WeRide. While autonomous driving for several years was viewed as an Achilles heel for BYD, the Warren Buffett-backed group rocked the auto industry in January when it revealed…

Tariff turmoil puts the brakes on German carmakers’ growth ambitions

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As the European automotive market shrank and competition increased in China, Volkswagen assured investors that the group at least still had ample room for growth in the US market. But Donald Trump’s volley of tariffs — including a 25 per cent levy on car imports — has swiftly damped the hopes of Europe’s largest carmaker and the multitude of suppliers that rely on Germany’s automotive industry. Analysts at S&P Global now expect 1.2mn fewer cars to be sold in the US next year, compared with their forecast a month before…

‘A bit lost’: China’s savers search for options after deposit rate cuts

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After a landmark decision by China’s biggest banks this week to slash one-year deposit rates below 1 per cent for the first time, households across the country are grappling with a pressing question: where should they park their money? Advertisement The dilemma arose for risk-averse savers after six major state-owned lenders and leading joint-stock bank China Merchants Bank (CMB) announced on Monday they would cut their one-year fixed deposit rate to 0.95 per cent, eliminating what was once a safe, if modest, source of passive income. Smaller banks have followed…

The Chinese elite’s boomtime love of horseriding is about to be tested

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The trainer holds the horse by a rope, neither slack nor taut, while his young student circles at a gentle trot. Despite the towering construction project in the backdrop, the white fences, sheet roofs and late-afternoon trees still conjure a faint sense of the countryside. Not far from the heart of downtown Shanghai, the YCL Riding Center is one of dozens of stables that have cropped up in China’s biggest cities. For affluent parents eager to educate their children as widely as possible, the sport can help meet the extracurricular…

Developing Asia’s laggard Laos faces economic headwinds

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BANGKOK – Xay, an auto mechanic from Laos, has been working in Thailand for three years. A combination of rising prices and falling purchasing power back home mean that he is one of 286,000 documented workers who have left Laos for better opportunities over the border. “Here I receive 550 baht (US$17) per day, compared to a bit over 100 baht (US$3) in Laos which barely made ends meet. I can learn new technology with better equipment here,” said Xay, who asked to use a pseudonym so he could speak…

The Ohio legislation that could force Chinese scientists to sell their US homes

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Xiang Zhang, a professor of genomics at the University of Cincinnati, drove more than 1,000 miles over two days to oppose a proposed law that would force him to sell his home, even though he is a US permanent resident. Advertisement “I never thought that one day, I would have to stand here in front of you to defend myself solely because of my nationality,” he told a packed hearing room in the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday morning, after cutting short a trip to make it back and give his…

Apple defies Trump to expand India manufacturing

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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. News from Washington suggests an interim trade deal could be signed before July 8, the date on which Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff of 26 per cent is scheduled to kick in. We’ll hopefully learn more once commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his team are back in New Delhi. In today’s newsletter, we take a look at the woes…

China’s green energy leadership can bridge political, economic divides

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Nearly a decade ago on the eve of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, as UN secretary general, I stood alongside then US president Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping as the two countries took the historic step of joining the Paris Agreement. Advertisement That moment – with the world’s two largest economies and biggest emitters – both expedited the ratification of the Paris Agreement and marked the start of an unprecedented era of climate cooperation. It showed shared responsibility in the face of an existential threat. Today, I see…

‘When power can define madness’: China accused of using mental health law to lock up critics

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Zhang Po was barely one year out of school when an out of control mine-cart barrelled into him deep in a pit in Anhui province, causing injuries that ended his brief career as a coalminer. Since the accident in 1999, he has been living off disability allowances provided by his former employer in Huainan, Anhui’s coal city. But in 2024 Zhang was sent to hospital once again – this time to a psychiatric ward. Zhang was sectioned for 22 days in June after he protested outside the office of his…

Apple set to expand India supply chain through $1.5bn Foxconn plant

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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. Apple’s key contractor is moving ahead with a $1.5bn component plant near Chennai, further expanding the iPhone-maker’s supply chain in India even as Donald Trump demands it return manufacturing to the US. Foxconn, which has assembled Apple’s devices for years, is set to build a display module facility in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, two government officials told the Financial Times. The plant would help the Taiwanese company supply…