https://www.scmp.com/rss/268179/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com US President Donald Trump has made China’s trade surplus a primary economic – and now national security – issue. The tariff protections on steel and aluminium he has issued can be seen as a broad approach to ensnare Chinese exporters of these products – along with every other exporter outside North America. Founded on a little-used national security exception to World Trade Organisation rules, the US has potentially made itself a target of retaliatory measures where it stands to lose much more... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2136814/trumps-steel-aluminium-tariffs-may-well-backfire-giving?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2136814/trumps-steel-aluminium-tariffs-may-well-backfire-giving?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Mar 2018 07:30:30 +0000 Since the election of US President Donald Trump, storm clouds have been looming over trade relations between the United States and China. Over the past seven months, the US has sanctioned Chinese entities that allegedly trade with North Korea, kicked off an investigation into China’s trade practices with respect to intellectual property protection, initiated an anti-dumping investigation against aluminium sheet from China, submitted a strongly worded argument to the World Trade Organisation... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123336/sino-us-trade-war-may-be-upon-us-and-china-may-have-upper?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2123336/sino-us-trade-war-may-be-upon-us-and-china-may-have-upper?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Dec 2017 01:57:17 +0000 At the recently concluded Asean meeting in Manila, a Philippine government official ­announced that the 10-nation bloc and Hong Kong were set to sign the long-awaited free-trade and investment agreements that have been under negotiation for more than four years. Unfortunately, no details of the agreement have been made available just yet; and for Hong Kong, the devil is most certainly in the details. There is a lot at stake for Hong Kong, as it hopes to stop the precipitous decline in its cargo... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111319/how-asean-can-save-hong-kong-losing-out-singapore-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111319/how-asean-can-save-hong-kong-losing-out-singapore-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Sep 2017 04:00:26 +0000 Last week, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer formally initiated an investigation into China’s policies and practices on intellectual property rights. The allegations underlying the investigation are that China and Chinese companies are systematically stealing American intellectual property through various means such as straight-up theft, forced technology transfer in joint ventures, and through the compulsory disclosure of source code and other sensitive information to Chinese government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2108269/us-probe-chinese-trade-practices-will-only-harm-american?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2108269/us-probe-chinese-trade-practices-will-only-harm-american?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Aug 2017 06:45:00 +0000