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US China Trade War
President Donald Trump is planning a USD 12 billion farm aid package, according to a White House official a boost to farmers who have struggled to sell their crops while getting hit by rising costs after the president raised tariffs on China as part of a broader trade war. According to the official, who was granted anonymity to speak ahead of a planned announcement, Trump will unveil the plan Monday afternoon at a White House roundtable with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers and farmers who raise cattle and grow corn, cotton, sorghum, soybeans, rice, wheat, and potatoes. Farmers have backed Trump politically, but his aggressive trade policies and frequently changing tariff rates have come under increasing scrutiny because of the impact on the agricultural sector and because of broader consumer worries. The aid is the administration's latest effort to defend Trump's economic stewardship and answer voter angst about rising costs even a
China's exports returned to growth in November following an unexpected contraction the month before, although shipments to the United States dropped nearly 29% from a year earlier in an eighth straight month of double-digit declines. Overall exports from China were 5.9% higher than last year in November in dollar terms, customs data released on Monday showed, at $330.3 billion, better than economists' estimates. That was an improvement from a 1.1% contraction in October. While exports from China to the US have fallen for most of the year, shipments have surged to other destinations, including Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. China's imports increased 1.9% in November, better than October's 1% growth, even though a persistent downturn in the property sector is still weighing on consumer spending and business investment. A year-long trade truce between China and the US was reached at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in late October in
President Donald Trump said Monday that he has accepted an invitation from Chinese leader Xi Jinping to visit Beijing in April and that he reciprocated by inviting Xi for a state visit to the US later next year. Trump made the announcement after he spoke with Xi by phone nearly a month after the two leaders met in person in South Korea, saying they discussed issues including Ukraine, fentanyl and purchases of American soybeans. "Our relationship with China is extremely strong!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. Beijing, which announced the phone call first, said nothing about the state visits but noted that the two leaders discussed trade, Taiwan and Ukraine. Xi told Trump that Taiwan's return to mainland China is "an integral part of the postwar international order," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said a crucial issue to Beijing that Trump did not mention in his post. The omissions from each side signal that sticking points remain for the two superpowers even as they highlight ..
For years, Washington has been warning others not to trust loans from Chinese state banks fuelling its rise as a superpower. But a new report reveals an ironic twist: The United States is the biggest recipient of all by far. And the security and technology implications have yet to be fully understood. China's state lenders have funnelled $200 billion into US businesses for a quarter of a century, but many of the loans have been kept secret because the money was first routed through shell companies in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Delaware and elsewhere that helped obscure their origins, according to AidData, a research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. More alarming, much of the lending was to help Chinese companies buy stakes in US businesses, many tied to critical technology and national security, including a robotics maker, a semiconductor company and a biotech firm. The report found a far more widespread and sophisticated lending network than previously thought
China said Monday it is making good on its pledge to crack down on chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl, a key issue for President Donald Trump during recent talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they aimed to take steps to ease a trade war. Beijing announced new export restrictions on 13 drug-making chemicals to the United States, Canada and Mexico, including those that are used to produce the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the U.S. every year. After meeting Xi in South Korea last month, Trump said China would help end the fentanyl crisis and he would ease a related tariff from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. It shows the back-and-forth nature of U.S.-Chinese cooperation on fentanyl over the years and lessens the recent tensions after Trump launched his campaign of tariffs, including those against the country that is the top exporter of pharmaceutical ingredients, such as the chemicals used to make fentanyl. What the Trump administration ha