China's exports expanded 8.1% year-on-year in April, while imports contracted 0.2%, customs data showed on Friday, both defying expectations for a much sharper slowdown in trade, Reuters reported. The new data followed a 12.4% year-on-year jump in exports in March, when Chinese factories pushed out shipments before U.S. President Donald Trump's 145% tariffs on Chinese goods took effect on April 9. Imports had fallen 4.3% in March. China has retaliated against U.S. tariffs by ramping up its levies on U.S. imports to 125%.

Household spending in fiscal 2024, which ended in March, dropped 0.1% from the previous year in price-adjusted real terms, down for the second straight year, the internal affairs ministry said Friday, the Japan Times reported. The average monthly consumption expenditure of households consisting of two or more members stood at ¥304,178 ($2,094). The decrease reflects sustained inflation, which is making consumers more budget-minded on food. Spending on food fell 1.0% mainly because consumers tended to refrain from buying vegetables, seaweed, meat and fruits.

A decision by India's Supreme Court to quash a $2.3-billion steel industry deal six years after an insolvency tribunal approved it has unsettled buyers of distressed assets, throwing a shadow over one of the country's biggest reforms, Reuters reported. Seven lawyers and bankruptcy law experts said the unprecedented ruling had set off alarm among potential buyers of other insolvent or bankrupt firms, fanning fears about the certainty of their investments. "Several large international funds ...

Malaysia’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady again in a widely expected decision that comes as tariffs threaten economic stability, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bank Negara Malaysia on Thursday maintained its overnight policy rate at 3.00%, where it has been since May 2023. “At the current OPR level, the monetary policy stance is consistent with the current assessment of inflation and growth prospects,” Bank Negara said.

Yokohama Rubber, a Japanese corporation with a history of over 107 years, has purchased a tire factory for the mining industry, as well as for earthmoving and oversized transport machinery, located in Drobeta Turnu Severin, according to Profit.ro. The factory, built in the 1970s–1980s, was put up for sale by the judicial liquidator of the company Euro Tyres Manufacturing SRL, which went bankrupt at the end of January 2025 after nearly 7 years of insolvency. The company owns an industrial platform spanning over 19 hectares in the city of Drobeta Turnu Severin.

China’s central bank cut interest rates and made it easier on Wednesday for banks to increase lending and pump more money into the economy, in the most significant policy steps taken by Chinese officials to limit the impact of the trade war with the United States, the New York Times reported. The central bank, the People’s Bank of China, cut short-term interest rates and the amount of funds banks have to hold in reserve in a series of 10 measures.

Chinese authorities announced on Wednesday a raft of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts and a major liquidity injection, as Beijing steps up efforts to soften the economic damage caused by the trade war with the United States, Reuters reported. The announcements come shortly after U.S. and Chinese officials said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and chief trade negotiator Jamieson Greer will meet China's top economic official He Lifeng in Switzerland this weekend for talks.

Vietnam's imports from China and exports to the United States both reached a post-pandemic record in April, amid talks with Washington to reduce Hanoi's trade surplus and a crackdown on Chinese goods being shipped to the U.S. via its territory, Reuters reported. The Southeast Asian nation faces the risk of 46% duties on its exports to the U.S. if the White House confirms this rate at the end of a global tariff pause in July. This could undermine Vietnam's growth model and hit multinationals exporting from the country, including Samsung and Nike.