Panama on Monday took over operations of container terminals at the Panama Canal, ending more than three decades of management by China, Freight Waves reported. Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Limited in a release said that it had been informed that Panamanian authorities made direct physical entry into the terminals at Balboa and Cristobal operated by subsidiary Panama Ports Company, S.A.

The International Monetary Fund faulted China’s economic policies for causing waste at home and damage abroad and called for a reorientation by Beijing to embrace a model based on domestic consumer spending, Bloomberg News reported. "Transitioning to a consumption-led growth model should be the overarching priority,” the IMF’s executive directors said in a statement Wednesday released alongside the Washington-based lender’s annual review of China’s economy, known as an Article IV consultation.

Higher U.S. tariffs are not the main reason for a surge in Chinese exports to the eurozone, Africa and other parts of Asia, according to economists at the European Central Bank, the Wall Street Journal reported. While President Trump last year hiked tariffs on imports from countries around the world, the duties faced by Chinese businesses are higher than most other countries. That has led to a sharp fall in Chinese exports to the world’s largest economy.

Chinese state-owned companies are buying foreclosed property projects, in a sign that long-promised government efforts to reduce massive oversupply in the crisis-hit housing sector are finally getting traction, albeit at a slow pace, Reuters reported. Analysts say the involvement of state firms may cushion the pace of further home price falls and ease the drag that the property slump has had on China's economic growth since 2021.

China’s new bank lending jumped in January from the previous month but was below expectations and far short of the record level a year earlier, as subdued credit demand continued to weigh on borrowing in the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. Banks extended 4.71 trillion yuan ($681.56 billion) in new yuan loans in January, surging from 910 billion yuan in December but missing analysts' forecasts, according to data from the People's Bank of China on Friday.

China released new guidelines to regulate pricing behaviour for the automotive sector and outlined draft safety standards on Thursday, marking the latest effort to curb price wars and safeguard the industry's value and quality, Reuters reported. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) introduced guidelines targeting practices such as failure to display prices transparently and deceptive promotions by automakers, parts suppliers, and dealers involved in car production and sales.

China's chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang met Mexico's Deputy Economy Minister Vidal Llerenas in Beijing on Monday, in the first face-to-face talks since Mexico imposed higher tariffs on Chinese imports, drawing warnings from Beijing, Reuters reported. The two countries conducted in-depth exchanges on bilateral economic and trade relations and other issues, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Mexico announced in December steep tariff increases on China and other countries without free trade agreements with Mexico - most up to 35%.

The European Union must simplify its regulations to make the bloc more competitive against the likes of the United States and China, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said ahead of summits of EU political ‌and business leaders, Reuters reported. EU growth has been persistently lower than that of the United States over the past two decades, with EU productivity and innovation, ‌particularly in fields like AI, falling short. "Let me take the U.S. example again. One financial system, one financial capital," von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

The European Commission has imposed additional duties on imported electric vehicles made in China since 2024, though under European Union rules carmakers can now negotiate tariff exemptions for individual electric models imported from China, Reuters reported. In February 2026 the Commission approved, in a first such move, a request by Volkswagen's Cupra brand to free its Tavascan SUV coupe, which is made in China, from import tariffs in exchange for a minimum price and annual quota model.

A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered an investigation into mismanagement at chipmaker Nexperia BV ‌and upheld an October decision to suspend former CEO Zhang Xuezheng, the ‌founder of Nexperia's Chinese parent Wingtech, saying that the company needs stability, Reuters reported. The decision leaves control of the company ​in the hands of the European team that has overseen it since a Dutch state intervention led to a conflict over the firm that has disrupted automotive industry supply lines around the world.