Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China next week after controversial plans for Beijing to build a vast embassy in London were approved by his government. The UK prime minster will lead a delegation of blue-chip British companies, according to Reuters. The same firms, which include BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce were also said to be among those who will join a revamped “UK-China CEO council”. There was no comment from Downing Street early on Wednesday. However, Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, went to Beijing…
Tag: Business
China’s population falls again as birthrate hits record low
China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birthrate plunged to another record low, according to official data, prompting warnings from experts of further decline. The population dropped by 3.39 million to 1.405 billion, a faster fall than 2024. Births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025, down 17% from 9.54 million in 2024, while deaths rose to 11.31 million from 10.93 million in 2024, figures from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. The country’s birthrate fell to 5.63 for every 1,000 people. Yi Fuxian, a…
China’s economy hit growth goal last year despite Trump trade war and property crisis
Chinese authorities can say they hit their growth goals last year, but Donald Trump’s ongoing trade aggression, a slow-motion housing market collapse and unhappy consumers remain major challenges for the world’s second-largest economy. Data released on Monday showed the Chinese economy grew by 5% in 2025, steady on the year before and hitting the official target of “around” that pace. Experts had expected punitive US tariffs would deliver a major blow to China’s economic performance in 2025. Instead, the country defied expectations by recording its largest-ever trade surplus (US$1.2tn) as…
China blocks Nvidia H200 AI chips that US government cleared for export – report
Suppliers of parts for Nvidia’s H200 have paused production after Chinese customs officials blocked shipments of the newly approved artificial intelligence processors from entering China, according to a report. Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which appeared in the Financial Times citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment made outside regular business hours. Nvidia had expected more than one million orders from Chinese clients, the report said, adding that its suppliers had been operating around the clock…
The crisis whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age
In late January 2025, 10 days after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, an economic conference in Brussels brought together several officials from the recently deposed Biden administration for a discussion about the global economy. In Washington, Trump and his wrecking crew were already busy razing every last brick of Joe Biden’s legacy, but in Brussels, the Democratic exiles put on a brave face. They summoned the comforting ghosts of white papers past, intoning old spells like “worker-centered trade policy” and…
Trump is making China – not America – great again, global survey suggests
A year after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a global survey suggests much of the world believes his nation-first, “Make America Great Again” approach is instead helping to make China great again. The 21-country survey for the influential European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank also found that under Trump, the US is less feared by its traditional adversaries, while its allies – particularly in Europe – feel ever more distant. Most Europeans no longer see the US as a reliable ally and are increasingly supportive of rearmament,…
China threatens to retaliate over Trump’s 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran
US president announces measure in response to situation in Iran, which is facing anti-government protests Business live – latest updates US politics – live updates China has threatened to retaliate against Donald Trump after the US president said he would impose 25% tariffs on countries that trade with Iran as a way of punishing Tehran for its brutal crackdown on the biggest anti-regime protests in years. Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said Beijing would “take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”…
Coal power generation falls in China and India for first time since 1970s
Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a “historic” moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis. The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world’s biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and was driven by a record roll-out of clean energy projects. The research, commissioned by the climate news website Carbon Brief, found that electricity generated by coal plants…
Freedom from China? The mine at the centre of Europe’s push for rare earth metals
It is deep winter with temperatures dropping to -20C. The sun never rises above the horizon, instead bathing Sweden’s most northerly town of Kiruna in a blue crepuscular light, or “civil twilight” as it is known, for two or three hours a day stretching visibility a few metres, notwithstanding heavy snow. But 900 metres below the arctic conditions, a team of 20 gather every day, forgoing the brief glimpse of natural light and spearheading the EU’s race to mine its own rare earths. Despite identification of several deposits around the…
‘Mad fishing’: the super-size fleet of squid catchers plundering the high seas
In a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” says Cdr Mauricio López, of the monitoring department. “It’s creating a serious environmental problem.” Just beyond Argentina’s maritime frontier, hundreds of foreign vessels – known as the distant-water fishing fleet – are descending on Mile 201, a largely…