USA

There is no mistaking the fact that the United States is in intense economic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The shape this competition takes depends critically on the policies pursued by the second Trump administration over the next four years, with plenty of scope for valuable lessons from the last four years. Like the first Trump administration before it, the Biden administration imposed large tariffs on China, and both administrations did so in no small part to support domestic manufacturing. And in the first two weeks of the second Trump administration, even more tariffs have been placed on goods imported from the PRC. While, in his first term, President Trump lamented the bilateral trade deficit and touted the Phase One agreement that was supposed to rec...

The government will assess any positive or negative implications for India from the tariffs that have been imposed by the US on China, a senior official said on Thursday. Though the duties on China are prima facie expected to boost exports from India to the US due to the duty arbitrage, the chances of dumping of goods from the neighbouring country has to be taken into consideration as it has excess capacity in almost every sector, the official added. On February 1 the US imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese goods. China has retaliated to the additional duties by the US and has also filed a complaint at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) calling the recent tariff action discriminatory. “We are trying to analyse the announcements made by the US on increasing tariffs. We will take the dec...

Indonesia is attracting foreign investors with its growing middle class, young demographics, and abundant resources. The newly-admitted member of the BRICS bloc of developing economies presents companies with a stable alternative to China, low tariffs to the 677 million people of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a 25-year history of democratic transition. At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru last November, Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto, who began his term in October, emphasized that foreign investments would be protected by a solid legal framework, and highlighted incentives and a commitment to liberalizing ownership laws. Several global financial institutions—including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an...

The trade war between the world's two biggest economies has escalated after China hit back against the introduction of tariffs by the US with measures of its own. Beijing has set out to target specific American goods with retaliatory taxes, among other measures, following the blanket 10% tariff introduced by President Donald Trump on all Chinese imports to the US. In some ways, this latest tit-for-tat is nothing new and builds on the long-running trade dispute between the nations, with tariffs having already been imposed and threatened on various goods since 2018. Trump has said he plans to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping, so a deal could yet be struck. But if China proceeds with its response on 10 February as planned, what could the impact be? Part of China's countermea...

China has reacted swiftly to the imposition of 10 percent tariffs on Chinese goods by United States President Donald Trump. They went into effect at 05:01 GMT on Tuesday, and moments later, China’s Ministry of Finance announced it would impose 15 percent tariffs on imports of US liquid natural gas (LNG) and coal and 10 percent levies on oil, farm equipment and some automobiles. In addition, China’s Ministry of Commerce and its General Administration of Customs said Beijing will begin imposing export controls on some rare earth minerals and metals central to the booming US tech industry and its green energy industry. China also announced measures against some US businesses. China set Monday as the start date for its economic countermeasures even though it has already been hit by U...

A hiss and puff of compressed air shapes the smooth leather, bringing to life an all-American cowboy boot in a factory on China's eastern coast. Then comes another one as the assembly line continues, the sounds of sewing, stitching, cutting and soldering echoing off the high ceilings. "We used to sell around a million pairs of boots a year," says the 45-year-old sales manager, Mr Peng, who did not wish to reveal his first name. That is, until Donald Trump came along. A slew of tariffs in his first presidential term triggered a trade war between the world's two largest economies. Six years on, Chinese businesses are bracing themselves for a sequel now that he is back in the White House. "What direction should we take in the future?" Mr Peng asks, uncertain of what Trump 2.0 ...

Analysts expect the U.S. President’s 25% across-the-board tariffs on Canada and Mexico will hit the automobile and electronics sectors hard; they also reckon while the additional tariff on China may not have a major impact on its economy, it may herald the opening salvo of another trade warU.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs — 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on goods from China — are set to roil supply chains for products ranging from automobiles to avocados — with industries girding for cost increases. U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico covered nearly $900 billion in goods as of 2023, and supply lines between the three North American neighbours — who share a trade agreement — are deeply integrated. Fresh tariffs would pose complications for bus...

Southeast Asia is predicted to be overwhelmed with an influx of inexpensive Chinese goods due to potential US tariffs on Chinese imports. To counteract this, Southeast Asian nations need to develop a collective response, utilise available trade tools and institutions and engage in dialogue with China to lay out legitimate safeguards and enduring solutions to avoid an escalation of protectionist measures. Southeast Asian domestic markets are about to be hit by a tsunami of cheap Chinese goods, unable to enter the United States if US President Donald Trump follows through on his promise of 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports. US tariffs on Southeast Asian goods as part of Trump’s blanket 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on all imports will just compound the challenge. This prospect de...

As Donald Trump threatens to slap steep tariffs on many countries, he is boasting that his taxes on imports will be a boon to the US economy, but most economists strongly disagree – many say Trump’s tariffs will increase inflation, slow economic growth, hurt US workers and result in American consumers footing the bill for his tariffs. “Virtually all economists think that the impact of the tariffs will be very bad for America and for the world,” said Joseph Stiglitz, an economics professor at Columbia University and a winner of the Nobel prize in economic sciences. “They will almost surely be inflationary.” On inauguration day, Trump threatened to impose a 25% across-the-board tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico on 1 February “because”, he said, “they’re allowing vast number...

Economic growth in the US slowed at the end of last year, as trade and investment declined and the country was hit by hurricanes and labour strikes. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.3% between October and December, down from 3.1% in the three months before, according to the US Commerce Department. The pace, fuelled by solid growth in consumer spending, was nevertheless weaker than economists had forecast. The figures come amid heightened uncertainty about the path for the world's largest economy, as US President Donald Trump calls for a policy shake-up. His plans include big cuts to government spending and implementing trade tariffs, which could be announced this week. The US economy had been forecast to expand at roughly 2.5% in the final three months of 2024 th...