Tag - trade

 
 

TRADE

Japan swung to a trade deficit of ¥462.5 billion in April due to higher crude oil prices and a weak yen.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2024
Japan trade deficit shows weak yen is weighing on economy
The trade balance in April registered a ¥462.5 billion deficit, flipping from a ¥387 billion surplus.
Crude oil tanker NS Creation, owned by Russia's leading tanker group Sovcomflot, transits the Bosphorus shipping strait in Istanbul in May 2022.
WORLD / Politics
May 20, 2024
Virtually every sanctioned Russian oil tanker is idle and empty
Since October, 40 ships involved in Russia’s oil trade have been added to the Treasury’s list of designated entities.
Japan's digital trade deficit in 2023 was up about 2.6 times over nine years since 2014, as smartphones have become ubiquitous tools and the digital services sector is dominated by U.S. information technology giants.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2024
Japan's digital trade deficit continues to expand
The deficit in Japan's balance of payments in digital services continues to expand steadily.
Subject to the Chinese probes is polyacetal resin, a type of plastic used for automobile parts and other items.
JAPAN
May 19, 2024
China launches anti-dumping probes targeting Japan and others
Subject to the probes is polyacetal resin, a type of plastic used for automobile parts and other items.
U.S. President Joe Biden signs orders that increase tariffs on China during an event at the White House on Tuesday. The escalating trade tensions risk slowing the transition to green technologies by boosting production costs.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2024
Looming U.S.-China 'trade war' bodes ill for green tech
China has denounced the new U.S. tariffs as bullying and warned of potential retaliation, arguing that they could harm global green economic transition efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an event in Beijing on Thursday. During Putin's visit, the leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 17, 2024
Xi and Putin mark ‘new era’ amid efforts to counter U.S. ‘containment’
The leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
Employees work at a shoe factory in Hanoi in 2020.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 16, 2024
As U.S. hikes China tariffs, imports soar from China-reliant Vietnam
The surge in China-Vietnam-U.S. trade has vastly widened trade imbalances.
A liquefied natural gas shipment on the Suez Canal in Ismailia, Egypt
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2024
Red Sea disruptions are splitting global LNG trade into regions
It’s been four months since an LNG tanker has passed through the strait separating the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing.
WORLD / Politics
May 16, 2024
'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger,' China trolls U.S. tariffs
Chinese state media accused the U.S. of taking action that threatens climate goals and will push up costs for American consumers.
Shipping containers at Pier J at the Port of Long Beach wait for processing in Long Beach, California, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 16, 2024
U.S. efforts to reshape global supply chains gathers pace in Asia
Investment flows are shifting along with trade, with global firms investing in Southeast Asia to avoid U.S. tariffs on China.
Iran's urban development minister and India's ports and shipping minister signed the contract in the town of Chabahar, in a ceremony broadcast live on state media.
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2024
India and Iran sign 10-year agreement to develop port project
The contract will see India Ports Global invest $370 million into "providing strategic equipment" and "developing transport infrastructure."
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about new actions to protect American workers and businesses from China's "unfair" trade practices, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 15, 2024
Who’s toughest on China? Biden’s tariff tactic ups ante as election looms.
U.S. president is seen to be trying to "outtrump Trump" to appeal to voters who worry about geopolitical competition or hold anti-China sentiments.
Employees work on a production line at an automotive plant producing electric cars near Ningbo, China. The U.S. is set to announce new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other goods as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2024
Biden set to hit China EVs and strategic sectors with tariffs
The decision, which could come as early as next week, represents one of Biden’s biggest moves in the economic race with China.
China’s fading appeal to foreign firms comes despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge in November to take more "heart-warming” measures to ease access to the world’s second-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024
EU firms’ appetite for China investment sinks to record low
Only 13% of firms surveyed earlier this year saw the country as a top destination for investments, a survey found.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong in Hanoi on Sept. 11, 2023. During Biden's visit to Hanoi last year, the U.S. and Vietnam elevated ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024
Vietnam's China ties loom large in U.S. hearing on market economy upgrade
Opponents cite Beijing's outsized influence on Hanoi while proponents argue that denial of market economy status would push Vietnam closer to its neighbor.
Workers make pods for e-cigarettes on the production line at Kanger Tech, one of China's leading manufacturers of vaping products, on Sept. 24, 2019 in Shenzhen, China.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024
China’s factory glut alarms the world, but there’s no quick fix
European Union leaders, who are threatening tariffs on electric cars, were the latest to scold China about overcapacity, but there are no plans to change.
The growing divide between U.S.-led and China-aligned blocs is taking a toll on the global economy as trade and investment flows are redirected along geopolitical lines in ways not seen since the Cold War.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024
Cold War-type divide puts trade and investment at risk, top IMF official warns
After years of shocks, countries are reevaluating their trading partners, an IMF official has said.
China is likely around two years behind the United States in developing its own AI software.
WORLD / Politics
May 9, 2024
U.S. eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT
Preliminary plans the Biden administration has include placing guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of AI systems like ChatGPT.
Economic security has evolved to include offensive measures, such as industrial policy. Countries like Japan are increasingly on-shoring strategic industries such as semiconductors, regardless of the cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
May 7, 2024
The shift from economic security to geoeconomics
Economic security started out as a defensive concept, but it has now been weaponized to include an offensive element, morphing into a geoeconomic tool.
A group of fishing boats sit next to the Mekong river in Phnom Penh in 2021.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2024
Cambodia to cut shipping through Vietnam with China-funded canal
Cambodia's deputy prime minister downplayed environmental concerns about the new canal and dismissed speculation Chinese warships could use it.

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