China’s economy showed resilience in a turbulent first half of the year, remaining on track to hit its official growth target for the year despite President Trump’s shifting tariff assault, the Wall Street Journal reported. China said that its gross domestic product expanded 5.2% in the second quarter of 2025 compared with a year earlier, slowing a touch from the 5.4% pace set in the first three months of the year and coming in line with economists’ expectations.
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Confronting a trade war with the United States, China’s government has poured $42 billion this year into a consumer trade-in program, double last year’s amount. The aim was to jolt a much-needed surge in spending at a precarious moment for the economy by subsidizing discounts for a wide variety of consumer goods, from washing machines to electric vehicles, the New York Times reported. The program has proved so successful that several municipalities have suspended or curtailed the program in recent weeks to prevent the money from running out prematurely.
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The struggles continue for global automakers in China, Electrek reported. After halting production, Volkswagen announced it will close a plant in China. And that’s not all: Another OEM is filing for bankruptcy through its joint venture. Although it might not seem significant, China is one of, if not the most important markets, for Volkswagen, accounting for around 30% of its deliveries. Volkswagen has already halted production at its manufacturing plant in Nanjing and plans to close it officially later this year. The Nanjing facility was opened by VW’s joint venture, SAIC Volkswagen, in 2008.
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It's the official end of an ambitious project launched nearly fifteen years ago: The court in Changsha, Hunan province, has declared the Gac-Fiat Chrysler joint venture bankrupt, putting a definitive end to the industrial presence of Stellantis via this entity in China, italpassion.fr reported. This joint venture, created in 2011 at the instigation of Sergio Marchionne, was to enable Fiat Chrysler to conquer the world's largest automobile market alongside Chinese giant GAC Group.
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Chinese FTX creditors have formally contested the proposed reorganization plan of the bankrupt exchange in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, AInvest reported. The objection, filed by Weiwei Ji, a Chinese customer of FTX, alleges that the current payout proposal unfairly discriminates against creditors in “Restricted Jurisdictions,” including China and other regions. Ji argues that the plan violates Section 1129(b)(1) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code by allowing “unfair discrimination” between classes of similarly situated creditors.
The value of apparel imports from China to the U.S. fell in May to its lowest monthly level in 22 years, according to latest trade data, highlighting the impact of steep U.S. tariffs, Reuters reported. China has for years been the biggest exporter of clothes to the U.S., but its share of the U.S. apparel market has fallen as trade relations between the world's two biggest economies soured. U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted tariffs up to as much as 145% in April, driving more U.S. retailers to reduce purchases from Chinese factories in favor of Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and elsewhere.
GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a joint venture between Stellantis and China's Guangzhou Automobile Group said on Tuesday it has been declared bankrupt, Reuters reported. The joint venture posted images of a ruling issued by a court in China's Hunan province declaring the bankruptcy, alongside its announcement, in a social media post. Read more.
Chinese businesses and investors are primed for the yuan to stay steady for now and eventually depreciate as U.S. trade tensions drag on, and a string of measures and hints from monetary authorities suggest they may be on the money, Reuters reported. A growing pile of foreign exchange deposits at banks and a rise in currency swaps show Chinese corporates and households are wagering they can exchange their dollars for more yuan if they wait. That conviction, in the face of the U.S.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would seek to limit Chinese and foreign purchases of American farmland, citing a threat to national security, the New York Times reported. In a seven-point national security plan, the Agriculture Department said it would enhance public disclosures of foreign ownership of farmland, enact steeper penalties for false filings and work with Congress and states to ban purchases from foreign adversaries.