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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…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…