China

China submitted a revised request for dispute settlement consultations with the United States to address new U.S. tariffs applied on goods originating in China, the World Trade Organization said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The Trump administration's latest tariff hike on Chinese imports has heightened fears of a renewed trade war between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies. China's revised request comes after an extra 10% duty on Chinese goods took effect Tuesday, adding to the 10% tariff imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on February 4.

Spurring reluctant Chinese consumers to spend has been elevated to the top of Beijing's to-do list for 2025, leap-frogging technology and industrial production, as lawmakers look to rectify imbalances in the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. Chinese Premier Li Qiang's report on Wednesday to the annual meeting of the country's parliament on major tasks for 2025 promised a "special action plan" for vigorously boosting consumption and stimulating domestic demand as the country set a roughly 5% growth target for 2025.

Country Garden Holdings Co.’s sales slump continued in February, as new home transactions saw only a tepid recovery across China and homebuyers shifted to state builders, Bloomberg News reported. Contracted sales dropped 38% from a year earlier to 2.3 billion yuan ($317 million), following a 59% year-on-year drop in January, Bloomberg calculations based on corporate filings show. Sales were little changed from the previous month. China is trying to put a floor under the real estate meltdown amid weak domestic demand and a worsening job situation.

U.S. President Donald Trump's new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20%, sparking trade wars that could slam economic growth and lift prices for Americans still smarting from years of high inflation, Reuters reported. The tariff actions, which look set to upend nearly $2.2 trillion in annual U.S. trade with its top three trading partners, went live at 12:01 a.m. (0501 GMT).

Country Garden has again engaged Houlihan Lokey and China International Capital Corporation as financial advisers on its offshore debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The defaulted property giant had previously hired Houlihan and CICC in 2023, but later parted ways. The advisory relationship with Houlihan was discontinued partly due to costs. Country Garden then appointed KPMG Advisory to the role in January 2024. Country Garden, which defaulted on dollar debt in 2023, has struggled to secure broad support for its restructuring.

Company executives and foreign officials are scrambling to avert the consequences of another tight deadline from President Trump, who has threatened to put stiff tariffs on goods coming in from China, Canada and Mexico starting just after midnight Tuesday. The president describes this as an effort to pressure those countries to stop the flow of deadly drugs and migrants to the United States. But Mr.

A private gauge showed China’s manufacturing activity expanding at the fastest pace in three months, signaling a trend of improvement consistent with the official index, the Wall Street Journal reported. The China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 50.8 in February from 50.1 in January, according to data released Monday by Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global. It was the fifth consecutive month that the index stayed above 50, the threshold separating expansion from contraction.