It’s ridiculous for the government to splurge on defence while it slashes spending on its most valuable asset: culture The US has backed down in its tariff war with China. Thanks to Donald Trump’s egotistical diplomacy, rare earths can again flow one way, soya beans the other, and less of the chemicals used to make fentanyl in between. No matter that the war was Trump’s own idea and seems to have been a stunt. The stunt is over. Trump has played his favourite game of dealmaker, much to the discomfort…
Month: October 2025
Brazil shrugs off US-China soybean deal as seasonal trade
Brazil’s soybean producers are downplaying concerns over a freshly minted US-China trade agreement that will see Beijing resume large-scale purchases of American soybeans, insisting the 12 million tonnes (13.23 million tons) pledged represents routine seasonal trade rather than a market upheaval. Advertisement Mauricio Buffon, president of Brazil’s Soybean Producers Association (Aprosoja), said the volume announced by Washington and Beijing on Wednesday should not alarm Brazilian exporters, framing it as part of normal supply cycles. “It is a movement that happens every year,” Buffon said in an interview to CNN Money…
What does the Xi-Trump summit’s silence on Taiwan mean?
In a stark departure from past China-US summits, Taiwan did not rate a mention on Thursday, prompting speculation that Xi Jinping and Donald Trump had arrived at a tacit and pragmatic understanding to deprioritise the contentious issue. Advertisement After he met Xi, Trump told reporters “Taiwan never came up”, despite the in-person discussion being their first since the US leader returned to the White House in January. The Chinese readout, released by state news agency Xinhua, also made no mention of Taiwan. That is unusual, given that Beijing has previously…
Xi-Trump summit yields wins for both China and US despite lack of breakthroughs
The first in-person summit between Chinese and American leaders since US President Donald Trump’s return to office marked a symbolic reset in the balance of power between the two rivals, yielding a time-bound agreement to pause escalation in their intensifying trade conflict. Advertisement From freezing new tariffs and rare earth export controls to resuming key US agricultural exports and pledging cooperation on Ukraine, both sides achieved tactical de-escalation in the Thursday meeting, allowing each to claim a win despite a lack of strategic breakthroughs, according to observers. For Trump, fresh…
Trump, Xi strike truce with soybean deal and TikTok nod: Bessent
After months of threats, chest-thumping and uncertainty, the world breathed a collective sigh of relief on Thursday after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping teased at least temporary relief on a host of bilateral trade irritants. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that China had agreed to buy 12 million metric tons (13.28 million tons) of soybeans this year and at least 25 million annually through 2028, a key issue for anxious US farmers after… South China Morning Post
Dutch seizure of Nexperia faces uncertainty after Xi-Trump summit
The Dutch government is under renewed pressure to end its seizure of the Chinese-owned, Netherlands-based semiconductor company Nexperia, after Washington agreed to suspend its updated export control rule for one year. Advertisement Introduced in late September, that rule expanded US export restrictions to any company that was at least 50 per cent owned by entities on Washington’s trade blacklist. The one-year suspension is expected to complicate the geopolitical dispute surrounding Nexperia, a critical supplier of semiconductors with automotive, industrial, mobile and consumer applications. The Dutch government’s action, which included the…
Xi and Trump strike a deal, Harvard scientist joins Wuhan virus lab: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘Amazing’ Xi-Trump summit, as it happened – deals struck as trade war thaws Chinese President Xi Jinping has held talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump, their first in-person meeting since Trump’s return to the White House, as the rivals seek to manage heightened tensions, particularly over trade. 2. ‘Positive step’: cautious relief as China resumes US soybean purchases American soybean farmers got some…
After Xi-Trump talks, lack of a chip deal seen as tech-independence issue
Amid the apparent absence of a concrete deal being reached with Washington on one of Beijing’s long-standing points of trade contention – export controls on the most advanced semiconductors – analysts say it reflects China’s increasing resolve to become more independent from the US. After a meeting with President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday morning, US President Donald Trump said the two sides “did discuss chips”. “China is going to be talking to Nvidia and others about taking chips …… South China Morning Post
The Royal Academy’s A Story of South Asian Art celebrates a path-breaking Indian modernist
Mrinalini Mukherjee’s “Pakshi” (1985) takes centre stage like a commanding deity at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, its towering rose-pink and muted-gold form made from dyed hemp, masterfully hand-knotted using ancient macramé techniques. The enigmatic suspended sculpture, calling to mind fishermen’s ropes as much as totemic masks, is both figurative and abstract, fusing and refining influences from botany and rural handicrafts to classical Indian dance-theatre and temple sculpture. Mukherjee’s soft sculptures were once misconstrued as folkloric, or even religious: recent shows have recognised her as a daring modernist Mukherjee’s last…
BYD profit falls 33% as Chinese EV maker doubles down on overseas markets
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Electric vehicles myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. BYD’s profits declined 33 per cent in the third quarter, highlighting the urgency of the Chinese electric vehicle maker’s overseas push following Beijing’s campaign against aggressive competition in the domestic sector. BYD has become the world’s largest and fastest-growing producer of EVs and the chief global rival to Elon Musk’s Tesla. But the third-quarter results show a continued slowdown for the group after a period of breakneck growth. The Shenzhen-based group…