https://www.scmp.com/rss/500513/feed Daniel joined the Post as US correspondent in 2019 to cover the evolving US-China relationship. He’s an award-winning print and broadcast correspondent and editor who analyses and reports on financial markets, foreign policy and general news. He started his journalism career at CNN then spent 22 years with Reuters on assignments in Europe, Asia and Latin America. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com US President Donald Trump said on Friday that a trade deal with China was “not ready” to be struck – reiterating his charge that Beijing has been manipulating its currency – and injected doubt into the timeline for trade talks, which are expected to resume in September. Saying that while the US was doing very well with China and that the two sides continue to talk, “we’re not ready to make a deal, but we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on the south lawn on the White House. Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3022240/trump-says-us-not-ready-make-deal-china-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3022240/trump-says-us-not-ready-make-deal-china-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Aug 2019 17:49:17 +0000 US stocks plunged on Monday as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies escalated, with China retaliating against the latest tariff threat by US President Donald Trump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 767 points, its worst day of the year. The S&P 500 index fell 2.98 per cent and the Nasdaq composite 3.47 per cent. “China’s retaliatory strategy to the US appears to be death by a thousand cuts. China has methodically delivered a wave of negative news that is hitting... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3021539/us-stocks-nosedive-yuan-falls-11-year-low-stoking-fears-escalating-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3021539/us-stocks-nosedive-yuan-falls-11-year-low-stoking-fears-escalating-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2019 16:45:46 +0000 The total value of bilateral trade between the United States and China dropped by nearly 14 per cent in the first half of the year versus the same period in 2018, data from the US Commerce Department showed on Friday. The change is a clear effect of the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, analysts say. In the first six months of the year, combining exports and imports as a measure of total trade between the US and China, the total amount of goods exchanged was US$271 billion... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3021282/trade-between-us-and-china-tumbles-first-half-year-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3021282/trade-between-us-and-china-tumbles-first-half-year-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2019 19:08:59 +0000 Hongkongers in New York on Wednesday hoped to turn global attention to the escalating violence that has increasingly marred protests in their home city by trying to deliver a letter to the United Nations Security Council. Dressed in black on a hot muggy day to show solidarity with the protesters, a group of 10 Hongkongers – students and professionals, most of whom had never met each other before – gathered in front of the UN headquarters in Manhattan and shouted “Stand with Hong Kong!” Then they... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3020864/special-delivery-us-based-hongkongers-bring-their-concerns-united?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3020864/special-delivery-us-based-hongkongers-bring-their-concerns-united?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jul 2019 22:24:17 +0000 The Trump administration opened a new front in its quest to reform the global trade system on Friday by demanding that the World Trade Organisation update its definitions of “developing country” status and remove the favourable treatment that ranking brings to nations like China, its main trade rival. If it doesn’t get the change it wants, the administration said, it is willing to go it alone and will not apply that status to countries within the WTO it believes no longer qualify for special... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3020320/us-president-donald-trump-presses-world-trade-organisation-stop-lenient?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3020320/us-president-donald-trump-presses-world-trade-organisation-stop-lenient?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Jul 2019 19:38:52 +0000 Just who is leading the race to win the emerging telecommunications revolution, otherwise known as 5G? That all depends on whom you ask. Larry Kudlow, US President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, insists that the United States is ahead of China. That conclusion, however, is either too simplistic, misleading, or flat-out wrong, depending on the analyst. Even the US government’s own Defence Innovation Board, which provides independent advice to the Secretary of Defence, has said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3020139/top-trump-adviser-says-us-leads-5g-race-others?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3020139/top-trump-adviser-says-us-leads-5g-race-others?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jul 2019 22:04:23 +0000 A bipartisan group of US senators proposed a law on Tuesday to prevent Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies from doing business with US companies without Congressional approval instead of relying solely on an executive order by President Donald Trump, thus limiting his ability to use the firm as a bargaining chip in trade talks with Beijing. Trump declared a national emergency on May 15, signing an executive order that did not name Huawei, a leader in 5G technology, but barred... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3018889/us-senators-seek-lock-limits-huawei-and-keep-it-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3018889/us-senators-seek-lock-limits-huawei-and-keep-it-out?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Jul 2019 16:58:01 +0000 US Senator Marco Rubio is using the trade impasse between Washington and Beijing to open a new front of potential friction between the two nations, by questioning why a major player in global stock benchmarks is including Chinese shares in its stock indexes – years after that process has been under way. In a June 12 letter to Henry Fernandez, the chairman and chief executive officer of MSCI, Rubio questioned why the China A-shares class of stock, which trade in mainland China and typically are... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3015633/us-senator-expands-washingtons-press-against-beijing-questioning-mscis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3015633/us-senator-expands-washingtons-press-against-beijing-questioning-mscis?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Jun 2019 21:45:06 +0000 Investors have extended their purge of US-based China region equity funds, pulling cash from the sector for the eighth consecutive week – marking the longest negative streak since mid-2016 and overlapping with the deterioration of trade talks between Washington and Beijing, according to new data. For the week ending June 19, a net US$218.6 million was withdrawn from China region funds sold to US investors, data provider Lipper, a Refinitiv company, reported late on Thursday. Since April 1,... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3015629/investors-pull-cash-us-based-china-region-equity-funds-8th?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3015629/investors-pull-cash-us-based-china-region-equity-funds-8th?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Jun 2019 19:57:09 +0000 The meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit next week in Osaka, Japan, is cause for optimism that trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies will start to ease – but US business leaders do not expect a quick end to US tariffs and Chinese retaliation. Nor do they believe the Trump administration’s use of tariffs is the best way to resolve the trade impasse, according to remarks at a panel discussion in Washington jointly hosted by... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3015285/xi-jinping-donald-trump-meeting-g20-good-news-trade-war-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3015285/xi-jinping-donald-trump-meeting-g20-good-news-trade-war-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2019 21:09:05 +0000 The financial and mental strain on American farmers, brought on by decade-low prices for crops, is being exacerbated by weather and politics. Much like farmers across America, Bill Gordon has missed most of the spring planting season on his 2,000 acres in Worthington, Minnesota because of record-breaking snow, rain and flooding that continues to inundate prime farmland. Even if farmers get the crop to harvest, they fear the trade war now raging between the US and China will rob them of a... https://www.scmp.com/business/us-farmers-swamped-trade-war-tariffs-and-rains/article/3014168?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/us-farmers-swamped-trade-war-tariffs-and-rains/article/3014168?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2019 08:49:18 +0000 Minnesota proudly proclaims the state is the land of 10,000 lakes. “I bet you there are 100,000 lakes in Minnesota right now. It’s just crazy,” says fourth-generation farmer Bill Gordon. Gordon, much like farmers all across America, has missed most of the spring planting season on his 2,000 acres in Worthington, Minnesota, because of record-breaking snow, rain and flooding that continues to inundate prime farmland and threatens the next harvest and more. The financial and mental strain on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3013941/under-water-us-farmers-swamped-tariffs-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3013941/under-water-us-farmers-swamped-tariffs-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Jun 2019 23:46:03 +0000 As academia becomes the newest battleground in the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, scholars have raised concerns over the cost of distrust on the American education system. Beijing on Monday warned Chinese students who wish to study in the US of increased visa denials as tensions mount over trade and technology. “This is the next iteration of where this is going as it moves from the economy and security to people-to-people,” said Jude Blanchette, a senior adviser with... https://www.scmp.com/education/cost-shutting-door-chinese-students/article/3013140?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/education/cost-shutting-door-chinese-students/article/3013140?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jun 2019 07:52:22 +0000 Beijing’s pointed warning on Monday that Chinese students should reassess their prospects for obtaining US visas amid heightened tensions between the two countries is raising concerns in the American academic community. Chinese undergraduate and graduate students make up the largest portion of foreign students at US universities by far, and that proportion has steadily increased over the past 40 years, according to the US Department of Education’s National Centre for Education... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3012997/us-universities-brace-decline-chinese-students-after-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3012997/us-universities-brace-decline-chinese-students-after-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jun 2019 13:45:05 +0000 US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin outlined on Wednesday what amounts to more breathing room in the trade war with China, saying a potential increase in tariffs on US$300 billion worth of mostly consumer goods is now at least a month away. Speaking before the US House Committee on Financial Services, Mnuchin emphasized that an exclusion process would be in place should President Donald Trump follow through on his threat to increase tariffs on a fourth tranche of Chinese exports up to 25 per... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3011400/next-round-us-tariffs-china-least-month-away-says-us-treasury-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3011400/next-round-us-tariffs-china-least-month-away-says-us-treasury-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 May 2019 19:11:45 +0000 The breakdown in trade talks between the United States and China has contributed to investors pulling cash from US-based China region equity funds in the past week, updated data shows. According to the weekly portfolio flows tracked by Lipper, a division of data provider Refinitiv, investors in US-based funds pulled a net US$690 million out of China-region equity mutual funds, marking the biggest net outflow in exactly three years. This was the third straight week of net outflows, said Pat Keon,... https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3010750/trade-war-talks-collapse-investors-pull-cash-china-region-equity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3010750/trade-war-talks-collapse-investors-pull-cash-china-region-equity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 May 2019 18:22:48 +0000 Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies said on Thursday that it would challenge the United States’ decision to add the company and 68 affiliates to an export blacklist and vowed to limit the impact on its operations. The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) took the action against Huawei late on Wednesday, immediately after US President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency that barred the use of telecoms equipment made by... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3010579/chinas-huawei-vows-challenge-blacklisting-us-warning-decision-will-do?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3010579/chinas-huawei-vows-challenge-blacklisting-us-warning-decision-will-do?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 May 2019 17:05:29 +0000 US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday declaring a national emergency, barring the use of telecommunications equipment made by companies that are deemed a threat to national security, clearing the way for an outright ban on products made by Huawei. The Executive Order did not name China or Chinese companies specifically. However, separately, and soon after the order was signed, the US Commerce Department did just that. The Commerce Department added Huawei and 70... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3010396/donald-trump-signs-executive-order-laying-ground-us-ban-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3010396/donald-trump-signs-executive-order-laying-ground-us-ban-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 May 2019 20:41:10 +0000 The unresolved trade dispute between the United States and China roils global financial markets episodically, but over the past year its escalation has sharply curtailed US farmers’ access to one of their biggest markets, exacerbating the pain they are feeling from already low commodity prices. Adding insult to injury, they say, is being offered a handout by US President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Friday that he would use the money raised via tariffs on China to purchase US$15 billion worth of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3009817/donald-trumps-plan-buy-us15-billion-crops-humanitarian-aid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3009817/donald-trumps-plan-buy-us15-billion-crops-humanitarian-aid?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 May 2019 23:12:48 +0000 US stocks staged a dramatic turnaround on Friday afternoon, recuperating all losses they had made in the morning after the US followed through on its midnight tariff increase. From noon, the Dow jumped 450 points to close at 25942. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.37 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. The markets turned upbeat after the latest round of negotiations wrapped up in Washington on Friday. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, without indicating a deal was close,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3009791/donald-trumps-tariff-hike-chinese-goods-rattles-global-markets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3009791/donald-trumps-tariff-hike-chinese-goods-rattles-global-markets?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 May 2019 14:14:07 +0000 Two of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy advocates have travelled to the United States to seek Washington’s support for scuttling the territory’s controversial extradition bill. The legislation would clear the city to conduct the transfer of suspects to destinations it now lacks extradition deals with, including Taiwan and mainland China. The bill has stalled in the Legislative Council since being tabled more than a month ago in the face of resistance from the business sector and human rights... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3009620/hong-kong-democracy-advocates-bring-their-protest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3009620/hong-kong-democracy-advocates-bring-their-protest?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2019 21:29:06 +0000 Threats and deadlines in the US-China trade war caught up with US stock market investors on Tuesday, as they sold off shares on escalating concerns a deal will not materialise between Washington and Beijing by a Friday deadline. US President Donald Trump’s threat to further raise tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods imported into the United States to 25 per cent – from the 10 per cent rate they are now subject to – sent the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones... https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3009276/us-tariff-threats-rattle-us-stock-markets-major-indexes-all-enduring-sell-offs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3009276/us-tariff-threats-rattle-us-stock-markets-major-indexes-all-enduring-sell-offs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 May 2019 22:17:01 +0000 US financial markets took US President Donald Trump’s threat to more than double the tariffs on Chinese goods in stride, clawing back much of the lost ground that greeted investors at the open of trading on Monday. Trump’s surprise tweet on Sunday that he planned to increase tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods to 25 per cent from 10 per cent sent global markets into a tailspin. Whether by design or not, his tweet – which came just before Chinese trade negotiators were due to arrive in the... https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3009105/wall-street-whipsawed-donald-trumps-surprise-threat-additional?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3009105/wall-street-whipsawed-donald-trumps-surprise-threat-additional?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 May 2019 21:36:24 +0000 The fired Morgan Stanley financial adviser who introduced a wealthy Chinese family to the mastermind of the unfolding college admissions cheating scandal plans legal action to clear his name, his lawyer told the South China Morning Post on Thursday. Michael Wu’s lawyer said that his client had been misled about a US$6.5 million payment the family made to ensure that their child gained admission to Stanford University. Wu, who worked for the financial services firm in Pasadena, California, was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008652/fired-morgan-stanley-financial-adviser-seeks-clear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008652/fired-morgan-stanley-financial-adviser-seeks-clear?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 May 2019 21:54:39 +0000 A Chinese family allegedly paid the mastermind of a cheating scheme $6.5 million to assure their child’s admission to Stanford University, US news media reported on Wednesday. The payment is thought to be the largest one made by parents who employed William “Rick” Singer, the owner of the Edge College & Career Network, to secure their children’s admissions into elite US universities. The scheme was revealed in March when federal prosecutors, after a year-long investigation dubbed “Operation... https://www.scmp.com/education/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-65-million-fixer-stanford-admission/article/3008507?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/education/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-65-million-fixer-stanford-admission/article/3008507?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 May 2019 09:20:37 +0000 A Chinese family allegedly paid the mastermind of a college admissions cheating scheme US$6.5 million to assure their child’s admission to Stanford University, US news media reported on Wednesday. The payment is thought to be the largest one made by parents who employed William “Rick” Singer, the owner of the Edge College & Career Network, to secure their children’s admissions into elite US universities. The scheme was revealed in March when federal prosecutors, after a year-long investigation... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008500/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-us65-million-fixer-admission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008500/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-us65-million-fixer-admission?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 May 2019 22:29:08 +0000 US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday he hoped that the next two rounds of trade talks with China would either produce a deal he could recommend to President Donald Trump to sign or “move on”. Mnuchin, speaking on the US television channel Fox Business, said that the US team led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer “have made more progress than ever before” towards a real agreement that includes enforcement provisions. Top trade negotiators from both countries are to meet in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3008190/us-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-says-he-hopes-next-trade-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3008190/us-treasury-secretary-mnuchin-says-he-hopes-next-trade-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Apr 2019 15:26:24 +0000 The United States on Monday turned the screws harder on Iran, as well as China and other nations that import its oil, by demanding they stop buying from Tehran by May 1 or face possible sanctions. China is the world’s No 1 oil importer and a major buyer of Iranian oil. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that Washington would no longer issue exemptions from sanctions for the import of Iranian oil represents the Trump administration’s latest move to starve Iran of its main source of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3007228/china-be-exposed-sanctions-us-says-it-will-end-iran-oil-import?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3007228/china-be-exposed-sanctions-us-says-it-will-end-iran-oil-import?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2019 22:05:14 +0000 Between the parry and thrust of the US-China trade talks, uncertainty over economic growth rates, US interest rate policy and China’s credit reform programme, it appears US investors, more so than their global peers, have put increasing amounts of cash to work in China region equity funds. And while they have been rewarded by share prices rallying to one-year peaks, several US fund managers who invest in Asia – and China more specifically – note that there is still a reluctance to put more money... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3007220/us-investors-maintain-their-steady-push-chinese-equities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3007220/us-investors-maintain-their-steady-push-chinese-equities?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Apr 2019 15:53:18 +0000 The United States, playing catch-up against foreign rivals including China, unveiled plans on Friday for the largest ever auction of radio spectrum to support the development of 5G, the next-generation mobile communications technology predicted to revolutionise the so-called internet of things. US President Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Ajit Pai, announced the December 10 auction in an event at the White House. They also outlined a US$20.4 billion investment in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005988/us-announce-large-scale-5g-development-plans-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3005988/us-announce-large-scale-5g-development-plans-race?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2019 16:45:39 +0000 China’s Great Firewall, erected over the past 15 years to restrict domestic access to the internet, may be a bigger problem than concerns over the spread of China’s 5G technology, according to a US venture capital investor. Fears that networking equipment manufactured by China’s national champion Huawei Technologies could offer Beijing a back door to spy on computer networks may not be as big a deal as China’s Great Firewall effectively dictating how devices connected via this new technology... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3005805/us-focus-blocking-chinas-5g-technology-misses-bigger-manufacturing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3005805/us-focus-blocking-chinas-5g-technology-misses-bigger-manufacturing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2019 02:05:45 +0000