The United States sells more soybeans to China, by value, than any other single product. Last year, that amounted to more than 27 million metric tons, worth $12.8 billion, or about 9 cents of every dollar of goods the United States sold to China, the New York Times reported. But with the enormous tariffs erected between the two countries over the past two weeks, those sales are likely to suffer soon. That is bad news for the American farmers who grow soybeans and the Chinese chicken and hog farmers who buy them — and potentially very good news for the nation ready to step in: Brazil.
Read more
China’s state-owned AVIC Trust Co. has requested operational support from two fellow trust firms after delaying payments on its investment products, Mitrade.com reported. The call for help comes at a time when the nation’s $3.7 trillion trust industry is struggling. AVIC Trust will become the first state-owned trust firm placed in custody since China’s Trust Law was enacted in 2001. According to a Bloomberg exclusive on Monday, the Beijing-based firm announced that it had entered into a service agreement with CCB Trust Co. and SDIC Taikang Trust Co.
Read more
China’s benchmark lending rates remained unchanged again this month, with policymakers likely watching to see how the trade war with the U.S. unfolds before taking further steps to stimulate the economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The one-year loan prime rate was left at 3.1% while the five-year rate remained at 3.6%, said the People’s Bank of China on Monday. Though the pressure posed by tariffs and continued low inflation in China back the case for policy easing, Monday’s hold was widely expected as the central bank hasn’t changed its policy rates.
Read more
China has warned countries against making trade deals with the U.S. that could hurt Beijing’s interests, the Wall Street Journal reported. “China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests,” the Ministry of Commerce said Monday, adding that it would respond “resolutely” with reciprocal countermeasures should such a situation arise. The ministry also said China is willing to strengthen solidarity and coordination with all parties, work together to respond to challenges, and oppose unilateral bullying.
Read more
China's state-backed funds are pulling back from investing in the funds of U.S.-headquartered private capital firms amid an escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies, the Financial Times reported. Some of the Chinese funds are also seeking to be excluded from investments in U.S. companies made by private equity firms based elsewhere, the report, which cited seven private equity executives with knowledge of the matter, said.
Read more
A Boeing jet earmarked for China was returning to the U.S. on Friday, flight tracking data showed, as the planemaker’s flagship delivery plant outside Shanghai was drawn into a deepening tariff war between Beijing and Washington, CNBC reported. The return of one of several jets waiting for final work and handover to a Chinese carrier at the completion center in Zhoushan is the latest sign of disruption to deliveries from a breakdown in the industry’s decades-old duty-free status. In a sign that Boeing was preparing for normal business just weeks before U.S.
Read more
China’s economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of this year, as government stimulus measures helped to boost consumption, The Irish Times reported. The 5.4 percent increase of gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the same quarter last year came ahead of Donald Trump’s imposition of crippling tariffs on Chinese goods. Retail sales grew by a bigger than expected 5.9 per cent in March compared to a year ago and industrial output was up by 7.7 per cent, the fastest growth since June 2021, according to data released on Wednesday.
China's first-quarter economic growth outstripped expectations, underpinned by solid consumption and industrial output, but analysts fear momentum could shift sharply lower as U.S. tariffs pose the biggest risk to the Asian powerhouse in decades, Reuters reported. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods to eye-watering levels, prompting Beijing to slap retaliatory duties on U.S. imports that have raised the stakes for the world's two biggest economies and rattled financial markets.
In the global trade war, Boeing is a big loser, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chinese officials told domestic airlines not to place new orders for Boeing jets and are requiring carriers to seek approval before taking delivery of already-ordered aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter. The tariff turmoil keeps getting worse for America’s largest exporter: Boeing’s vast and fragile supply chain is grappling with the end of its decades-long duty-free status. Boeing faces retaliatory tariffs from other countries.
When a Chinese pork producer filed for bankruptcy in 2019, the news came as a jolt to Alan Hill, Reuters reported. The retired Apple executive from Albuquerque had invested about $100,000 last decade in Dalian Chuming Meat Processing through a U.S.-listed holding company, Energroup Holdings. Chuming had not paid dividends for many years, but it supplied pork to Walmart and had been profitable at least as recently as 2016.