Exports to the US from Chinese online shops such as Temu and Shein have plunged in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war, as shipping from China to the EU has increased. Official Chinese data showed its total e-commerce shipping dropped 65% by volume in the first three months of the year, but rose 28% in Europe. The sharp fall comes amid reports that the fast-fashion discount platform Shein is considering a restructuring in the US to circumnavigate tariffs. According to the Financial Times, one workaround would be for Shein…
Tag: Tariffs
China manufacturing activity plummets amid Trump tariff war
China’s factory activity slowed in April, with Beijing blaming “sharp changes” in the global economy as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States. Punishing US tariffs that reached 145% on many Chinese products came into force in April, and Beijing responded with 125% duties on imports from the US. Chinese exports soared more than 12% last month as businesses rushed to get ahead of the punishing tariffs. The impact of the measures began to show in official data on Wednesday, with the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) –…
No recent Xi-Trump call, says China despite US president’s claims – US politics live
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"680f4a848f0848f8750655f2","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday directing the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month the cities and states that are not complying with federal immigration laws, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. ","elementId":"f04b8b7a-8c00-45f8-ac69-6d131a8fcd7f"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump’s administration from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown. ","elementId":"c671dcab-2006-4f0a-a7f5-401fef012542"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1745834607000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"06.03 EDT","blockLastUpdated":1745835317000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"06.15 EDT","blockFirstPublished":1745834948000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"06.09 EDT","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"06.09","title":"Trump to step up crackdown on ‘sanctuary cities’ –…
UK banks brace for first-quarter reports after Trump tariff turmoil
UK banks’ earnings reports will be studied this week for signs of turmoil linked to Donald Trump’s tariff drama, with uncertainty over global growth likely to weigh on lenders with heavy exposure to China, including HSBC. First-quarter profits only reflect the January-to-March period that preceded the US president’s “liberation day” tariff announcements on 2 April. But investors will be concerned about any hints of caution around earnings forecasts, as well as an uptick in money put aside for defaults by tariff-hit borrowers. The issue is expected to divide UK lenders…
Trump tells interviewer Crimea ‘will stay with Russia’ in any Ukraine peace deal – live
From 26m ago Trump: Crimea ‘will stay with Russia’ – report Donald Trump has said in an interview with Time magazine that Crimea “will stay with Russia” as part of peace negotiations with Ukraine. Trump accused Zelenskyy on Wednesday of prolonging the “killing field” by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea peninsula as part of a possible deal. Russia illegally annexed that area in 2014. Zelenskyy has repeated many times during the war that recognizing occupied territory as Russian is a red line for his country. Share Updated at 07.40 EDT…
Apple ‘aims to source all US iPhones from India’, reducing reliance on China
Apple is reportedly planning to switch assembly of all iPhones for the US market to India as the company seeks to reduce its reliance on a Chinese manufacturing base amid Donald Trump’s trade war. The $3tn (£2.3tn) technology company aims to make the shift as soon as next year, the Financial Times reported. Apple has been swept up in Trump’s aggressive tariff policies, with the iPhone maker at one point among the biggest stock market casualties because of the prospect of its Chinese-made products being hit with a hefty import…
Xi announces plan for Chinese economy to counter impact of US trade war
Xi Jinping has announced a plan to counter China’s continuing economic problems and the impact of the US trade war, as reports swirl that it could drop tariffs on some US products, including semiconductors. Friday’s meeting of the politburo was convened to discuss China’s economic situation, which since the pandemic has faced difficulties fuelled by a housing sector crisis, youth unemployment, and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all Chinese exports. A readout of the meeting published by the official state media outlet, Xinhua, said China’s economy had showed a “positive trend”…
Trump says China tariffs will drop ‘substantially – but it won’t be zero’
Donald Trump said during a White House news conference that high tariffs on goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”. Trump’s remarks were in response to earlier comments on Tuesday by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who said that the high tariffs were unsustainable and that he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed import taxes of 145% on China, which has countered with 125% tariffs on US goods. Trump has placed tariffs on several dozen countries, causing…
Boeing investors brace for fallout from Trump tariffs
Investors in Boeing are braced to learn the full impact of Donald Trump’s trade war, amid fears the US planemaker could be hit harder than first expected after jets intended for a Chinese airline returned to the US. A Boeing 737 Max 8 plane intended for use by a Chinese airline returned to the US on Monday from Boeing’s China finishing centre, according to flight data cited by Reuters. It followed the arrival in the US on Sunday of another 737 Max painted in the livery of China’s Xiamen Airlines…
From peppercorns to plastic forks: US businesses that rely on Chinese products reel from Trump tariffs
Chang Chang, a Sichuan restaurant in Washington DC, was already noticing that some of its business had dropped off after tens of thousands of federal workers living in the area lost their jobs. But the recent tariff rate hikes mark an even greater blow for the restaurant. Sichuan peppercorns, which create the signature numbing spice of the regional Chinese cuisine, along with other ingredients, face an at least 145% tariff after last week’s tit-for-tat trade battle between China and the United States. The steep rate is an existential threat for…