Apple’s China conundrum Shares in Apple, the world’s most valuable public company, suffered their biggest single-day fall in a month on Wednesday following a report that China would extend a ban on iPhones for government workers. Any hint that the company’s business in China is under threat would understandably give investors a fright, and its shares are down another 3 percent in premarket trading Thursday morning. But the ripples will be felt more broadly: If one of the most successful operators in the world’s second-largest economy is at risk, can…
Tag: International Trade and World Market
China’s Exports Fall for Fourth Straight Month
The Background Economists had expected the August trade numbers to be slightly worse. A Reuters survey forecast that exports had fallen 9.2 percent in August from a year earlier, and that imports had dropped 9 percent. Exports had plunged 14.5 percent from a year earlier in July. Many multinationals, especially large retailers in the United States, have become worried about the dependence of their supply chains on China as geopolitical tensions have increased in recent years and as international trade disputes have intensified, particularly between the United States and China.…
China Is Flooding the World With Car Exports
At a time when many of China’s exports are faltering and its consumers are spending less at home, the country is flooding the world with cars. Overseas demand for inexpensive vehicles made in China, mostly gasoline-powered models that Chinese consumers now shun in favor of electric cars, is so great that the biggest obstacle to selling more abroad is a lack of specialized ships to carry them. Chinese automakers have leaped to dominance in Russia since war began in Ukraine, transporting cars by train. The companies have also captured large…
Huawei Phone Is Latest Shot Fired in the U.S.-China Tech War
In the midst of the U.S. commerce secretary’s good will tour to China last week, Huawei, the telecom giant that faces stiff U.S. trade restrictions, unveiled a smartphone that illustrated just how hard it has been for the United States to clamp down on China’s tech prowess. The new phone is powered by a chip that appears to be the most advanced version of China’s homegrown technology to date — a kind of achievement that the United States has been trying to prevent China from reaching. The timing of its…
The U.S. and China Are Talking Again. Where It Will Lead Is Unclear.
When Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, visited China this week, she joined a long line of U.S. politicians who have come to the country to try to sway Chinese officials to open their market to foreign businesses and buy more American exports, in addition to other goals. Ms. Raimondo left Shanghai on Wednesday night with no concrete commitments from China to treat foreign businesses more equitably or step up purchases of Boeing jets, Iowa corn or other products. In a farewell news conference, she said that hoping for such an…
Factories May Be Leaving China, but Trade Ties Are Stronger Than They Seem
The United States has spent the past five years pushing to reduce its reliance on China for computer chips, solar panels and various consumer imports amid growing concern over Beijing’s security threats, human rights record and dominance of critical industries. But even as policymakers and corporate executives look for ways to cut ties with China, a growing body of evidence suggests that the world’s largest economies remain deeply intertwined as Chinese products make their way to America through other countries. New and forthcoming economic papers call into question whether the…
U.S. Does Not Want to ‘Decouple’ From China, Commerce Chief Says
High-ranking United States and Chinese officials held a series of economic policy meetings on Tuesday in Beijing, in the latest sign that both countries are trying to stop the long deterioration in their relationship and restore communications. Gina Raimondo, the U.S. commerce secretary, and other top officials from her department on Tuesday afternoon met with Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Great Hall of the People, next to Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. Mr. He has broad oversight of economic policy, and has long been closely associated with…
U.S. Commerce Secretary Meets With China’s Economic Czar
High-ranking United States and Chinese officials held a series of economic policy meetings on Tuesday in Beijing, in the latest sign that both countries are trying to stop the long deterioration in their relationship and restore communications. Gina Raimondo, the U.S. commerce secretary, and other top officials from her department began meeting early Tuesday afternoon with Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Great Hall of the People, next to Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. Seated in a red-carpeted reception room on the second floor of the Great Hall,…
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Walks a Tightrope in China
What to watch as Raimondo visits China Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, one of the Biden administration’s biggest Beijing hawks, kicked off her visit to China on Monday with a call to preserve a “stable economic relationship” between the two economic powers that “share over $700 billion of trade.” With relations between the countries at a critical juncture, Ms. Raimondo is now the fourth senior U.S. official to travel to China in less than three months. Her visit, which will include meetings with business leaders and government officials, including her Chinese…
U.S. Commerce Secretary Faces a Wide Range of Issues in China
Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, who arrived in Beijing on Sunday, is the latest Biden administration emissary seeking to stabilize ties between the world’s two largest economies. The fourth senior U.S. official to travel to China in less than three months, Ms. Raimondo is taking her trip at a critical juncture. Relations between the countries are strained, partly because the United States has clamped down on China’s access to technology that could aid its military. China’s economy also appears to be slowing, and Beijing has been trying to woo…