China Business & Economy

SHANGHAI—China’s yuan currency edged lower on Sept. 18 after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington will impose duties on an extra $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, sharply escalating the trade fight between the two economic giants. Trump on Sept. 17 imposed 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, and threatened […]

Apple got into the Chinese regime’s crosshairs recently with its new iPhone launch. During the Sept. 12 release event for the tech giant’s latest line of smartphones, the iPhone XS, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, displayed a projection screen on which it showed flags representing the company’s various market around the world. […]

An alleged Ponzi scheme run by Health Mall, a Chinese sports and fitness app, has caused investors—including tens of thousands of teachers and students at 444 colleges and universities across China—to lose several billion yuan (about $1 billion), Chinese media recently reported. Health Mall, launched in 2015, was developed by Guangzhou Elephant Health Technology Co. […]

SHANGHAI—The financial hub of Hong Kong began cleaning up Sept. 17, with financial markets and offices operating as normal, after being battered by one of the strongest typhoons in recent years. Super typhoon Mangkhut, with winds of well over 124 mph, had barreled past the northern tip of the Philippines, killing at least 50 people. It […]

Hundreds of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending victims in Shanghai gathered outside of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) building on Sep. 12 to protest against P2P scams. They were driven away by the police violently before roughly a dozen people were arrested. P2P allows people to lend to each other while earning high-interest rates—higher than those […]

China’s fixed asset investment decelerated further in August, as the country braces for additional tariffs amid the U.S.-China trade war.

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more Chinese goods, despite Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s attempts to restart trade talks with China, a source familiar with the decision said. But the timing for activating the additional tariffs was unclear, the person said. The green light for the […]

BEIJING/HANGZHOU—Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to increase the supply of rental housing last year, millions of young Chinese expected to find homes they would finally be able to afford. But the government’s initiative has had an unintended effect: a surge of property investors into the rental market that has dramatically pushed up prices. This summer, […]

BEIJING—China’s export-dependent cities and provinces are scrambling to provide relief to exporters, stabilize employment, and avert the possibility of social unrest as an intensifying trade dispute with the United States threatens to further erode business. Guangdong, China’s biggest province by gross domestic product, this week offered to cut corporate taxes, slash electricity prices, and reduce […]

BEIJING—China’s growth is set to cool further in coming months, with a barrage of August economic data doing little to dispel views that domestic demand is softening and government support measures will take some time to kick in. While industrial output and retail sales readings on Sept. 14 were better than expected, most other indicators […]

SINGAPORE—Many global markets climbed on Sept. 13 following a report that the United States has proposed a new round of trade negotiations with China before going ahead with plans to slap tariffs on $200 billion or more in Chinese goods. According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials recently proposed a new round of trade […]

SHANGHAI—It’s barely six months into a broadening Sino–U.S. trade war, and the fallout has already driven China’s stock markets into the same league as debilitated emerging markets such as Turkey, Argentina, and Venezuela. With a roughly 20 percent loss so far this year, Shanghai’s stock market has joined the Shenzhen exchange as among the world’s […]

A $2.5 billion loan from China to South Africa’s largest utility company has come under scrutiny as local lawmakers accuse the Chinese regime of engaging in “debt-trap diplomacy.” China has aggressively courted African nations for investments seen as advantageous to its national agenda. In the Congo, China has provided billions in aid, allowing it to […]

China has invited the United States’ top bankers to a gathering in Beijing to discuss relations between the two countries, amid an impasse with President Donald Trump on trade issues and tariffs. According to the Financial Times, a roundtable will be held in Beijing on Sept. 16. It will be co-chaired by Zhou Xiaochuan, a […]

BEIJING—China has banned the transport of live hogs and pig products from 10 regions bordering the six provinces that have reported African swine fever outbreaks in recent weeks, a move set to further tighten supplies and oil prices in the world’s top pork consuming country. Live markets will also be shut in the regions, according […]

HARBIN, China—Even after 14 outbreaks of African swine fever across China in just over a month, pig farmer Wang Wu does not believe the threat to his livelihood is real. “I heard about the African swine fever thing. But then people said it was just rumor. It was fake news,” said Wang, who raises about […]

COPENHAGEN—Greenland on Sept. 10 picked Denmark as a partner in a planned upgrade of two airports as it sought to defuse a diplomatic row over how the infrastructure projects, of strategic interest to both Washington and Beijing, should be financed. The Arctic island is a self-ruling part of Denmark, which is concerned that Chinese investment—on […]

Lately, the P2P crash has fostered many predictions about China’s impending Minsky moment. The “Minsky moment,” named for American economist Hyman Minsky, refers to the moment at which the value of assets collapses suddenly. In China today, the two main indicators identified by Minsky — increased debt and a rising leverage ratio, have manifested quite […]

BEIJING—Chinese auto sales fell for a second month in August, an industry group reported on Sept. 11, adding to signs of economic malaise amid a worsening tariff battle with Washington. Sales of SUVs, sedans, and minivans in the biggest global auto market contracted by 4.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.8 million units, according […]

BEIJING—Amid a worsening tariff battle, China is putting off accepting license applications from American companies in financial services and other industries, an official of a business group said on Sept. 11. The disclosure is the first public confirmation of U.S. companies’ fears that their operations in China or access to its markets might be disrupted […]