China

When the US Supreme Court struck down a central pillar of President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff regime last week, businesses across Asia did not celebrate. Instead, exporters, manufacturers and logistics companies were left grappling with more confusion over access to the world's largest consumer market. "No-one likes uncertainty," said Push Sharma, founder of Singapore-based wellness brand Haldy, which had spent years preparing to enter the American market before abruptly shelving its plans last year. "We had already done the trademark registrations, the groundwork, discussions with distributors," he said. "Then everything suddenly felt very drastic. We had to defer our plans." Trump's tariffs were designed to reduce global dependence on China among other things. Bu...

After two decades of loaning African nations billions of dollars for infrastructure projects, China now is focused on extracting payments, straining national budgets and threatening security across the continent. Collectively, African nations have gone from receiving nearly $30 billion in Chinese loans between 2010 and 2014 to paying out $22 billion between 2020 and 2024, a swing of $52 billion, according to a recent analysis by One Data, a group that uses open-source information to examine economic issues around the globe. The report was made for the Development Finance Observatory. China has become a net extractor of funds from low- and lower-middle-income countries as billions of dollars in loans mature at the same time, according to the One Data report. Although the story is...

Recent data shows growing pressure on China’s economy. Factory activity has slowed, the property sector is weak and export-focussed companies face trade barriers in developed markets. Because of this, many companies are looking outside China to expand and maintain stable earnings. China’s economic slowdown has begun to influence its outward investment plans, with India emerging as a potential destination for fresh capital flows. Several Chinese companies are exploring opportunities in the Indian market as domestic growth loses pace and external trade conditions become more restrictive. Recent data shows growing pressure on China’s economy. Factory activity has slowed, the property sector is weak and export-focussed companies face trade barriers in developed markets. Because of t...