China

The European Union marginally revised its proposed tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China after receiving more information from the affected companies, Bloomberg News reported. The new provisional rates — which will come on top of the existing 10% duty — are: Other EV producers in China that cooperated with the investigation but have not been sampled will be subject to a weighted average duty of 20.8%, while firms that didn’t cooperate will face an additional 37.6% levy. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, notified the companies earlier this month about the tariffs.

A Hong Kong court gave Chinese property developer Kaisa Group a seven-week respite on Monday to finalise a debt restructuring plan, adjourning a hearing on a liquidation petition for what it said could be the last time, Reuters reported. The High Court adjourned the hearing to Aug. 12 after the petitioner representing a key group of bondholders agreed to Kaisa's request for more time. The Shenzhen-based developer has been working to restructure its offshore debt since defaulting on $12 billion in offshore debt payments in late 2021.

With billions of dollars in trade at stake, China and the European Union have agreed to engage in talks to try to resolve an escalating dispute over tariffs, the New York Times reported. China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, and Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Union trade commissioner, will hold discussions on the European Union’s plan for tariffs on electric cars from China, the Chinese commerce ministry said late Saturday.

China is pushing for Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. to lower their bank card transaction fees in the country, a person familiar with the matter said, as part of an effort to facilitate payments for foreign visitors, Bloomberg News reported. The Payment & Clearing Association of China is negotiating with global card issuers including Visa and Mastercard on lowering fees local merchants are charged on foreign card transactions. The association proposed trimming the fee to 1.5% from 2-3%, the person said. The negotiations are ongoing and the fee cut details could change.

China left benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly fixing on Thursday, in line with market expectations, Reuters reported. The steady monthly loan prime rate (LPR) fixings underscore that Beijing's monetary easing efforts continued to be limited by narrowing interest rate margins and a weakening currency, despite a flurry of recent data showing more support is needed to shore up an uneven economic recovery. The one-year LPR was kept at 3.45%, while the five-year LPR was unchanged at 3.95%.

China’s government has responded to calls for help from beleaguered solar manufacturers, promising to guide capacity expansions and avoid redundant investments, Bloomberg News reported. The National Energy Administration will monitor solar factory utilization and expansion plans to help improve market conditions, Li Chuangjun, director of the agency’s renewable energy department, said at a press briefing on Thursday. The pledge comes after solar companies called on Beijing to step in after a surge in capacity caused equipment prices and company profits to crater.

China’s Commerce Ministry on Thursday accused the European Union of making unreasonable demands in its investigation into imports of Chinese electric vehicles before announcing it was raising tariffs by as much as 38%, the Associated Press reported. Ministry spokesman He Yadong said that the European side had demanded excessive amounts of information from Chinese automakers and then unfairly accused the Chinese companies of failing to cooperate.

China’s central bank chief hinted at a blueprint for a new toolkit that could open the door to its biggest policy overhaul in years, as officials try to bolster growth in the world’s No.2 economy, Bloomberg News reported. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, gave the clearest signal yet that the authority may start trading government bonds in the secondary market, during a speech in Shanghai on Wednesday. That shift has the potential to rewire how the central bank injects money into the economy and regulate liquidity.

China's securities regulator said on Tuesday it will strengthen regulation of all financial activities and prevent and resolve risks, in a move to improve and reform financial markets amid a wobbly economic recovery, Reuters reported. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement it will maintain a "zero-tolerance" stance on illegal activities in the capital market. "Preventing and defusing financial risks, especially preventing systemic financial risks, is the fundamental task of financial work," the CSRC said in a statement.