Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 87

Shipments from Chinese ports slow as US tariffs bite

Major ports and foreign trade provinces in China are showing the first signs of disruption from the ongoing tariff war between the world’s two largest economies. Virtually no cargo ships were bound for the U.S. by Thursday from once-bustling ports in Shanghai and Guangdong, while operations at export factories in provinces that feed China’s export empire have ground to a halt, sources in the

Trump’s showdown with China deepens, with huge stakes for the economy

President Donald Trump is heading into another volatile week of his trade wars facing an urgent need to de-escalate the clash he ignited with China before it inflicts deep damage on the US economy.Chinese President Xi Jinping is so far declining US pressure to call his American counterpart to seek a “deal” after the United States imposed 145% tariffs on its superpower rival, setting off a

MP barred from Hong Kong says it was to 'shut me up'

A Liberal Democrat MP barred from entering Hong Kong has told the BBC she believes it was to "shut me up and to silence me". Wera Hobhouse flew to Hong Kong with her husband on Thursday to visit her son and newborn grandson. However she was detained at the airport, questioned and deported.The MP for Bath, one of more than 40 parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac)

China’s Xi hikes US tariffs, seeks to bolster relations with Southeast Asian nations

China’s president is heading on a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia after his government hiked tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%, the latest strike in an intensifying trade war that has sunk stock markets and threatens to stunt the global economy. The increase to 125% from 84%, effective Saturday, matches the recent series of duties levied U.S. President Donald Trump levied on China. The White

Trump's tariffs are a huge blow to Vietnam's economic ambitions

US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs targeting most of the world are now in effect – and outside China, no other region has been hit as hard as South East Asia. Near the top of the list are Vietnam and Cambodia which have been hit by some of the highest tariffs: 46% and 49%. Further down are Thailand (36%), Indonesia (32%) and Malaysia (24%). The Philippines gets a tariff of 17%, and

Why Beijing is not backing down on tariffs

In response to why Beijing is not backing down to Donald Trump on tariffs, the answer is that it doesn't have to. China's leaders would say that they are not inclined to cave in to a bully – something its government has repeatedly labelled the Trump administration as – but it also has a capacity to do this way beyond any other country on Earth.Before the tariff war kicked in, China did have a

Why Trump is hitting China on trade - and what might happen next

Suddenly, Donald Trump's trade war is in much sharper focus. Rather than a fight on all fronts against the world, this now looks far more like a fight on familiar Trumpian territory: America v China.The 90-day pause on the higher "retaliatory" tariffs levied on dozens of countries still leaves a universal across-the-board tariff of 10% in place. But China – which ships everything from iPhones to

What would a US-China trade war do to the world economy? 18 hours ago

The US and China together account for such a large share of the global economy, around 43% this year according to the International Monetary Fund. If they were to engage in an all-out trade war that slowed their growth down, or even pushed them into recession, that would likely harm other countries' economies in the form of slower global growth. Global investment would also likely suffer.There

Chinese stocks open higher Thursday morning, with nearly 5,000 companies rallying strongly

The Chinese stock market rallied strongly on Thursday morning. In the A-share market, the Shanghai Composite Index opened 1.29 percent higher, the Shenzhen Component Index opened 2.29 percent up, and the ChiNext Index soared 3.35 percent at the market opening.The rally comes after China responded with a raft of measures on Wednesday, including lifting the additional tariffs on goods imported from

Trump 2.0 is in a state of permanent emergency

The emergency of the moment is the economy. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to address a long-standing trade imbalance and declare a global trade war. After a week of market calamity and recession fears, Trump blinked on the most severe new taxes, which his aides had recently promised were not a negotiating tactic but were meant to restore trade balance. Instead, he’ll focus