Tag - trade

 
 

TRADE

Chinese President Xi Jinping, his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet in Beijing in April last year.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2024
With China in mind, EU aims to toughen rules on foreign trade and investment
The package includes requiring member states to potentially prevent foreign direct investments that may pose a risk to the bloc’s security.
The value of Japan's exports rose at the fast pace in a year in December, propelled by shipments to China growing for the first time in over a year and record sales to the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2024
Strong December exports boost odds of a return to growth last quarter
A return to growth would make it easier for the Bank of Japan to end its negative rate policy.
Fighters loyal to the Houthis ride on the back of a pick-up truck during a military parade for new tribal recruits amid escalating tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea, in Bani Hushaish, Yemen on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 24, 2024
Red Sea attacks could disrupt shipping for months, driving up costs
With sailors demanding double pay and insurance rates skyrocketing, shipping lines are steering clear of a waterway that normally carries 12% of seaborne trade.
According to the the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, international economic activity is expected to slow amid changing trade patterns.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2024
From 'hyperglobalization' to 'thin globalism'
How geopolitics, pandemics, and economic tensions are transforming global trade.
A crane moves containers in Montreal on Jan. 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2024
Chaos in the Red Sea is starting to bite into companies’ profits
With the Red Sea crisis roiling shipments, it’s only a matter of time before soaring costs and supply-chain strains show up in companies’ earnings reports.
The SK Hynix factory in Dalian specializes in 3D NAND flash memory used in smartphones and other devices. NAND accounts for an increasing portion of the company’s revenue, around 27% of which comes from China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 23, 2024
U.S. chip battle with China catches South Korea in the crossfire
Korean firms have to balance relations with both countries — one, a source of cutting-edge chipmaking technology and the other, the world's largest chip market.
Royal Air Force Typhoon aircraft have conducted precision strike operations against Houthi military targets in response to further attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 23, 2024
U.S., U.K. airstrikes hit more Houthi targets in fresh escalation
The airstrikes were the most significant in a series of attacks since the first wave of missile and Tomahawk launches by the U.S. and the U.K. in the early hours of Jan. 12.
The rupture of one of the world's busiest shipping routes has exposed the vulnerability of China's export-reliant economy to supply snarls and external demand shocks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2024
Red Sea crisis pressures China's exporters as shipping delays mount
Further Red Sea disruptions would pile pressure on a struggling economy already contending with a property crisis and weak consumer demand.
A worker carries a tray containing steamed kamaboko at a factory in Ise, Mie Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional voices: Chubu
Jan 22, 2024
As costs rise, kamaboko producers struggle to stay afloat
Many have little choice but to raise the prices of their own products after having exhausted other measures.
Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China, in October 2018.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2024
China defies sanctions to make Russia its biggest oil supplier in 2023
Russia shipped a record 107.02 million metric tons of crude oil to China last year, equivalent to 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd), the Chinese customs data showed.
A ship transits the Suez Canal toward the Red Sea on Jan. 10. Insurance costs for ships whose seafarers who do brave the waterway have shot up tenfold, including a large increase since the airstrikes.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2024
Airstrikes on Yemen bring new level of chaos to Red Sea shipping
After U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, Western navies caution ships to steer clear.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hong Kong's new chief executive, John Lee, take part in a swearing in ceremony to inaugurate the city's new government on July 1, 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024
Hong Kong‘s choice: National security or a global role?
Hong Kong tries to maintain its international status and economic role amid challenges posed by China's National Security Law and other political developments.
Houthi supporters rally to denounce air strikes launched by the U.S. and Britain, in Sanaa, Yemen on Jan. 12.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
U.S. strikes Houthi missiles as Greek vessel hit in Red Sea
Attacks by the Iran-allied militia on ships in the region since November have affected companies and alarmed major powers.
Li Qiang at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Jan 17, 2024
In Davos, Chinese premier takes aim at trade 'barriers'
Li's remarks came as the World Economic Forum's 54th annual conference is preoccupied with a slew of global risks, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
A toy gun is assembled at an Aequs toy manufacturing facility in the city of Belgaum in India.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2024
Infrastructure hurdles hinder toy manufacturers' shift from China
That other countries struggle to match China for efficiency is limiting firms' efforts to shift to lower cost bases and raising the risk of higher toy prices in the future.
A container ship crosses the Gulf of Suez toward the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal east of Cairo. Vessels have been pausing or diverting from the Red Sea amid the escalating conflict in the region.
WORLD
Jan 16, 2024
Yemen's Houthis threaten to hit U.S. ships as more tankers steer clear
The Iran-allied militant group said British and American vessels had become "legitimate targets" following last week's strikes on its sites by both countries.
Farmers dry coffee beans at the Thiririka farming cooperative in Kiambu County, Kenya, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2024
Is it time for a coffee cartel?
If farmers in the developing world are prevented from getting their fair share from coffee production they should take matters into their own hands.
Scallops from Hokkaido are served at an event in Sao Paulo on Sunday to promote Japanese seafood.
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2024
Japan promotes fishery products at event in Brazil
The move is meant to cut reliance on the Chinese market after Beijing banned seafood imports from Japan last year.
The continued demand for and access to banned Nvidia chips underlines the lack of good alternatives for Chinese firms despite the nascent development of rival products from Huawei and others.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 15, 2024
China's military and government acquire Nvidia chips despite ban
The sales by largely unknown Chinese suppliers highlight the difficulties Washington faces.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, visit a Samsung semiconductor factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in May 2022.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2024
South Korea's economic strategy amid the U.S.-China rivalry
If the world is to avoid incurring increasingly high costs from fragmentation, the U.S. and China must learn how to coexist and engage in fair competition.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on