Tag: Economy

Top Chinese Leaders Say Economy ‘Facing New Difficulties’

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Beijing —  China’s top leaders said the economy was facing “new difficulties and challenges” in a meeting of the 24-person Politburo on Monday. The country’s highest-ranking officials gather annually at the end of July to review the economic situation before their traditional summer break in August. This year, they met as the post-COVID recovery in the world’s second-largest economy was running out of steam, due in large part to sluggish consumer spending. “The meeting pointed out that the current economic operation is facing new difficulties and challenges, mainly due to…

Yellen Says Pending Rules Won’t ‘Broadly Disrupt’ Investment in China

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week said that if the Biden administration issues expected new rules limiting outbound U.S. investment in China, they will not be highly disruptive to trade between the two countries, and will focus on national security concerns. “We are looking carefully at outbound investment controls, and they would serve as a complement to the export controls that we have in place, to make sure that we’ve covered all the channels by which technologies can be transferred to China that we think pose national security concerns,”…

China’s Economy Misses Growth Forecasts, Raising the Odds of More Support for Its Tepid Recovery

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China’s economic growth missed forecasts in the second quarter of the year, adding to worries over surging youth unemployment and a weak property sector and raising the likelihood the government will double down on support for the faltering post COVID-19 recovery. The world’s second largest economy grew at a 6.3% annual pace in the April-June quarter, much slower than the 7% plus growth analysts had forecast given the anemic pace of activity the year before. Unemployment of youths aged 16 to 24 rose to a record 21.3% in June, up…

Sources: US Chip CEOs Plan Washington Trip to Talk China Policy

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The chief executives of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc are planning to visit Washington next week to discuss China policy, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The executives plan to hold meetings with U.S. officials to talk about market conditions, export controls and other matters affecting their businesses, one of the sources said. It was not immediately clear whom the executives would meet. Intel and Qualcomm declined to comment, and officials at the White House did not immediately return a request for comment. The sources said other semiconductor…

US Senators Push China Investments Tracker in Defense Bill

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Two U.S. senators are pursuing a legislative plan to track U.S. investments in China, as the White House works to complete long-awaited action that would also restrict investment in certain, highly targeted sectors. The Outbound Investment Transparency Act, filed late on Thursday as an amendment to a defense bill, is the latest bipartisan legislation introduced by Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican John Cornyn aimed at tackling the risks of U.S. investment going to foreign adversaries like China. Unlike an unsuccessful version the senators introduced in 2021, the latest measure…

US Lawmakers Say China Using Coercive Business Practices for Economic Advantage

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Washington —  U.S. lawmakers Thursday charged the Chinese Communist Party is using coercive economic practices to achieve worldwide dominance over the United States. The accusations came at a hearing of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party days after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the nations’ economic relationship. Yellen said that while the United States was taking targeted national security actions, “a decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be disastrous for…

Chinese Legislation Takes Aim at US Trade Sanctions

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WASHINGTON —  As U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen concluded her four-day trip to China, calling it “productive,” the ink was barely dry on China’s sweeping new Foreign Relations Law that appears to be aimed at countering U.S. trade sanctions. The day before the bill took effect on July 1, China’s official Xinhua News Agency quoted an unnamed person in charge of the Legal Work Committee of the powerful Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress as saying, “China’s foreign-related legal system still has some shortcomings. Especially in terms of safeguarding…

US Treasury Secretary Holds ‘Candid and Constructive’ Talks With China’s PM

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held “candid and constructive” talks Friday with China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing. A Treasury Department statement said Yellen “discussed the administration’s desire to seek healthy economic competition with China that benefits both economies, including American workers and businesses.” She also emphasized close communication on “global macroeconomic and financial issues and working together on global challenges, including debt distress in low-income and emerging economies and climate finance.” The U.S. treasury secretary began a four-day visit to China on Friday by calling for market reforms…

Yellen Says Decoupling US, Chinese Economies Would Destabilize Global Markets

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Speaking Friday in Beijing to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “The United States does not seek a wholesale separation of our economies. … The decoupling of the world’s two largest economies would be destabilizing for the global economy, and it would be virtually impossible to undertake.” Yellen met later Friday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other Chinese officials in Beijing, where she addressed the strained relationship between the two countries. She arrived in Beijing on Thursday. “I am glad to be…

EU Ambassador Regrets Lack of Progress With China on Trade

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Beijing —  The European Union’s ambassador to China expressed regret on Sunday over the lack of “substantial progress” with Beijing on trade talks, as EU countries seek to reduce their economic dependence on the Asian giant. The European Commission has suspended its efforts to get member states and parliament to ratify an investment agreement reached with China at the end of 2020, after seven years of talks, following differences over human rights in the Muslim-majority region of Xinjiang. With relations cooling, the EU also decided in May to “readjust” its…