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China’s cabinet on Tuesday issued a plan to stabilise its vital trade sector, including supporting exports of automobiles and facilitating visas for overseas businessmen, as subdued global demand threatens its exports outlook.

 

The move came after Chinese officials repeatedly warned of a severe and complicated situation for foreign trade development as exporters reported lack of orders, putting pressure on policymakers to shore up a sector that is key to economic growth and provides jobs to around 180 million people.

 

As outbound shipment of electric vehicles spurred an unexpected surge in exports in March, the State Council (cabinet), said, Chinese banks and their overseas branches were encouraged to offer financial support to car firms to help the latter expand on foreign turf.

 

China will also further smooth the issuing of visas for overseas business people, while increasing inbound and outbound flights, according to the statement.

 

On exploring markets, the State Council asked Chinese embassies and consulates to step up support for small trade firms and urged major export-oriented provinces to play a key role in stabilising the sector.

 

“The commerce ministry together with relevant departments should closely follow the operation of foreign trade, analyse the changes of situation” and “adjust and improve relevant policies” in a bid to “help firms stabilise orders and explore markets,” said the statement.

 

China will also properly respond to unreasonable foreign trade restrictions and strengthen training and guidance to local governments and firms affected, the statement added.

 

Financial institutions, it said, are encouraged to expand the scale of yuan settlement in cross-border trade transactions to better meet the demand from firms to hedge currency risks.

 

Source: U.S.News

Brazil hopes the Mercosur trade deal with the European Union (EU) will be concluded this year, a government official said on Sunday, ending years of delay and opening the way to increased trade between the two regions.

 

The EU and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay completed negotiations in 2019 but the deal has been on hold due to concerns, particularly in France, about Amazon deforestation and Brazil’s commitment to climate change action.

 

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has promised to overhaul his country’s climate policy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese exporters exhibiting their products at the country’s largest trade fair said the weak global economy was hurting their businesses, with many freezing investments and some cutting labour costs in response.

 

The subdued mood at the Canton Fair in the southern city of Guangzhou suggests China’s unexpected jump in exports in March may have reflected exporters catching up with orders delayed last year by COVID curbs rather than renewed economic strength.

 

The first major trade event since China abruptly dropped COVID restrictions and re-opened its borders comes as sharply higher borrowing costs in the United States and Europe hit demand for Chinese-made goods.

 

Kris Lin, a representative from Christmas light producer Taizhou Hangjie Lamps, said this year’s orders so far are down 30% from last year.

 

“The difficulties last year came from logistics and production disruptions but the local government helped solve the problems. That’s an internal issue. Now we have external problems. We can’t solve those,” Lin said.

 

“This year will be the hardest for us,” he said, with higher electricity costs caused by the war in Ukraine reducing demand for his decorations even further.

 

Lin said the company cannot afford to sell at lower prices, but it may look to reduce labour costs. The firm relies on contract workers who get released in September to October after the delivery of Christmas orders.

 

“If orders are weak this year, I will set my workers free earlier.”

 

Huang Qinqin, sales director at Zhong Shan Shi Limaton Electronics, a producer of exhaust fans, has similar thoughts on cutting costs after orders halved in the first quarter.

 

“In our factory, workers come to work when there are orders,” Huang said. This used to mean working overtime even on weekends, but it is more common this year for workers to take weekends off, she said.

 

A producer of shaving devices from the eastern city of Ningbo, who asked to remain anonymous to unveil future plans, said the firm had already laid off workers and will lower prices in coming months if orders don’t improve.

 

The worsening outlook for workers in the manufacturing industries will raise concerns among policymakers, who target 12 million new jobs across China this year, up from last year’s goal of 11 million.

 

Dozens of Chinese suppliers told Reuters they did not intend to spend much on improving production lines this year given the weak demand.

 

“We have no plan to increase investment,” said Luna Hou, sales representative at Topgrill, which makes outdoor grills and has cut prices by 5% to lure buyers.

 

Vicky Chen, foreign trade manager at socket producer Qinjia Electric, said she did not expect a big sales boost at the fair, which runs until May 5.

 

“The whole global economy is fairing poorly at the moment, and the fair won’t change that.”

Source: U.S.News

South Korea on Friday said it will provide 7 trillion won ($5.32 billion) in financial support for its battery makers seeking to invest in infrastructure in North America over the next five years to help firms cope with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act.

 

Government support will include lowering lending rates and insurance premiums by as much as 20% as well as providing more loans and tax credits for Korean firms’ battery and material production facilities in the region, the industry ministry said.

 

The U.S. Treasury Department last week unveiled stricter electric vehicle (EV) tax rules, requiring automakers to source a certain percentage of critical minerals for EV batteries from the United States or a U.S. free-trade partner to qualify for new U.S. federal incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: U.S.News

An announcement is expected to be made soon, the sources added, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public.

 

Britain said negotiations with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) had been going well. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said ministers were due to discuss CPTPP with their counterparts later this week and there would be an update at the “earliest possible opportunity”.

 

Britain has been looking to build global trade ties following its departure from the European Union, and began negotiations in June 2021 to join the CPTPP grouping as it also looks to pivot toward geographically distant but fast-growing economies, especially in the Indo-Pacific.

 

Other members of the group are Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

 

Membership will supplement existing bilateral trade deals Britain has with several of the member countries, with the overall aim of further cutting tariffs on goods and reducing barriers to services and digital trade.

 

“We are making great progress on the UK’s accession to CPTPP, and aim to conclude talks at the earliest opportunity,” a spokesperson for Britain’s business and trade ministry said.

 

Source: U.S.News

 German exports to China declined significantly in February, dampening hopes of a trade revival following the end of strict coronavirus measures at the end of last year, the federal statistics office said on Tuesday.

 

Exports to China, Germany’s most important trade partner, decreased by 12.4% to 7.9 billion euros ($8.46 billion) compared with February last year, it said.

 

In January, exports to China were down 7.1% on the year.

 

German exporters had hoped for a stronger start to 2023 after pandemic restrictions that had closed factories and ports in the world’s second-largest economy were lifted in December.

 

However, experts see lots of catch-up potential in trade with China, whose economy could grow twice as fast this year as it did in 2022.

 

While goods worth around 298 billion euros were traded between the two countries last year, exports of German goods to China increased by only 3.1%, to around 107 billion euros.

 

Germany, on the other hand, imported goods worth 191 billion euros from China, a third more than in 2021.

 

 

Source: U.S.News

The Brazilian and Australian governments have opened talks aimed at forging new agricultural trade agreements after representatives of both countries met this week, the Brazilian agriculture ministry said in a statement on Friday.

 

While Brazil aims to export pork to Australia, the South American country could start importing Australian wheat and barley under a potential future pact, the statement said.

 

Brazil is a net wheat importer and the world’s fourth biggest pork exporter, being home to some of the world’s largest meatpackers.

 

Brazil’s main supplier of imported wheat is Argentina, though its own internal production is growing as the country seeks to become self-sufficient in the staple.

 

Last week, Brazil became the second country in the world to approve cultivation and sale of drought-tolerant genetically modified wheat, which would allow farmers to plant it in drier areas like the Cerrado biome.

 

To implement an agricultural agreement, Brazil and Australia must first negotiate a reduction of bilateral trade tariffs at the World Trade Organization, according to the ministry’s statement.

 

Abitrigo, a Brazilian trade group representing flour millers, said in a separate statement it also met Australian government representatives to share information on the Brazilian wheat market.

 

The trade group said it was in favor of diversifying sources of wheat imports, adding this would be beneficial to Brazilian flour millers.

 

Sophie Davis, Australia’s ambassador to Brazil, met Brazilian Agriculture Ministry Carlos Favaro on Wednesday, the agriculture ministry’s statement said.

 

Aside from liberalizing trade, the pair also discussed sustainable agriculture projects and opportunities for research cooperation in the field.

 

Source: U.S.News

The Treasury Department is preparing a new program that could prohibit U.S. investment in certain sectors of adversarial nations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing copies of reports provided to lawmakers on Capitol Hill viewed by the newspaper.

 

The Biden administration’s work on the new rules would in practice largely deal with U.S. investments in China though the report given to lawmakers did not identify any countries, the WSJ said.

 

The new rules are expected to cover private-equity and venture-capital investments in advanced semiconductors, supercomputing and some forms of artificial intelligence, the WSJ reported quoting people familiar with the matter as saying.

 

The Treasury and Commerce departments expected to finalize their policy in the near future, it added.

 

Reuters reported last month that Biden administration was planning an outright ban on investments in some Chinese technology companies and increased scrutiny of others.

 

The United States passed a sweeping set of regulations last year that aimed at hobbling China’s semiconductor industry.

 

 

Source: U.S.News

 Italy wants to team up with France and Germany to “influence” and slow the pace of European Union laws on cutting car and truck emissions, Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said on Saturday.