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US Treasury chief not concerned ‘at present’ about shops running out of items

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday he was not concerned “at present” about American shops potentially running out of items due to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Advertisement Trump has introduced a 10 per cent baseline tariff against most nations, and a far higher levy totalling 145 per cent on goods coming from China. The White House also introduced several sector-specific tariffs of 25 per cent, and has threatened to reimpose higher measures on dozens of trading partners if they do not reach a deal to lower trade…

Undermining the Indus Waters Treaty imperils Indian security

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is professor of history and environmental studies at Yale University, and the author of ‘The Burning Earth’ The Indus Waters Treaty has withstood three wars between its nuclear-armed signatories, India and Pakistan. But last week, in the wake of a brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, a town in India-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, India suspended its participation in the treaty for the first time since it was signed in…

Trump’s immigration crackdown chills speech of foreign students and scholars in US

Nearly 100 days in, Donald Trump’s second term as US president has been defined by his determination to upend the established order on nearly all fronts of domestic and foreign policy. In the fourth of this series, we look at the impact of the Trump administration’s stringent monitoring of individuals who came to the US to study and conduct research and what it might mean for America’s competitiveness and intellectual culture. Advertisement Growing up in Shanghai, Ming dreamed of attending a top US university – not just because he wanted…

Tencent, Alibaba buy Nvidia GPUs from ByteDance stockpile, report says

Chinese technology giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding have purchased a substantial number of graphics processing units (GPUs) from TikTok owner ByteDance, which previously stockpiled about 100 billion yuan (US$13.7 billion) worth of chips, according to a report by business news outlet Caijing. Advertisement Social media and video gaming giant Tencent purchased about 2 billion yuan worth of GPUs – primarily Nvidia’s H20 chips – in the first quarter to support the development of artificial intelligence (AI), including its ChatGPT-like application Yuanbao. E-commerce giant Alibaba, which owns the Post,…

China’s food, energy supplies secure without US imports, official says

China’s food and energy security would not be compromised if the country were to halt purchases of grain and fuel from the United States, a senior Chinese economic official has stressed, as an intensifying trade war threatens to disrupt flows of goods between the world’s two largest economies. Advertisement “The Chinese people’s rice bowl is firmly held in their own hands,” said Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference on Monday. China is fully capable of ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grain and…

China rejects Trump’s Xi trade talk claims, Chinese marriages drop: 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. China rejects Trump claims of tariff phone call with Xi Jinping China has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claims that he received a phone call from Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said: “I would like to reiterate that China and the US have not engaged in consultations or negotiations regarding tariff issues.” 2. Absence of Chinese general from Politburo…

US farmers’ loss is Brazil’s gain as China diversifies soybean imports

Amid an escalating trade war with the US, China has turned to Brazil for more agricultural imports, and April has seen a significant rise in soybean shipments from the South American country. Advertisement An estimated 40 ship calls carrying Brazilian soybeans are expected at Ningbo Zhoushan Port this month, marking a 48 per cent year-on-year increase, according to a Monday report by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV. The vessels are set to unload around 700,000 tonnes of soybeans at the port, representing a 32…

No recent Xi-Trump call, says China despite US president’s claims – US politics live

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Canadian and Australian voters are rewarding defiance of Trump’s tariffs

This article is an on-site version of our Trade Secrets newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Monday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newsletters Welcome to Trade Secrets. Something struck me over the weekend when I saw Donald Trump at Pope Francis’s funeral in Vatican City: he had contrived to visit one of the very few states on earth he hasn’t hit with tariffs. Thinking about it, Italy should totally do a deal with the Vatican to route…

The missing lynx: how the rise of border walls has split up wildlife populations

The lynxes of the Białowieża forest once freely prowled through 1,420 sq km (548 sq miles) of ancient woodland. Then, in 2022, the habitat was abruptly sliced in two. Poland built a 115-mile (186km) wall across its border with Belarus to stop refugees and migrants entering the EU. About 15 lynxes were left stranded on the Polish side of the forest, forced into a genetic bottleneck. The 5.5-metre high barrier, which is topped with wire and cameras, also dissects the forest’s population of bison, wolves and elk. Researchers monitored 10…