https://www.scmp.com/rss/507512/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ningrong Liu Ningrong Liu As the world eagerly awaits a Xi-Trump meeting that could signal a potential resolution to the long-lasting US-China tariff war, Beijing has introduced its strictest export controls yet on rare earth elements and the related production technology. The announcement took US President Donald Trump by surprise; he decided to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by a further 100 per cent. From the start of this tariff war, Beijing has shown an ability for long-term strategy, positioning itself for a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328816/chinas-counter-attacks-are-giving-trump-taste-his-own-medicine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328816/chinas-counter-attacks-are-giving-trump-taste-his-own-medicine?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Sameed Basha Sameed Basha Markets that seemed initially unconcerned about US-China trade tensions reacted sharply last Friday to US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose an extra 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports. Wall Street, driven by AI-focused tech companies, lost around US$2 trillion in value. This increase in dependence on China’s supply chain suggests that any further escalation could trigger a market bubble burst. Mixed messaging from Trump to try to keep China off balance isn’t helping to ease... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328699/trumps-tariff-tirade-nothing-more-hurtful-political-theatre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3328699/trumps-tariff-tirade-nothing-more-hurtful-political-theatre?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:30:07 +0000 Nicholas Spiro Nicholas Spiro Where are the guardrails and checks on US President Donald Trump’s radical agenda? This is a question that was asked frequently in the first three months of his second term as America’s financial and business community came to terms with his fierce assault on the global trading system and his contempt for the rule of law. Yet in the past few months, another, more alarming question has arisen. What if there are no effective restraints on Trump’s policies, or too much damage is done before... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3324278/china-standing-trump-unlike-us-courts-wall-street-or-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3324278/china-standing-trump-unlike-us-courts-wall-street-or-business?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 08:30:09 +0000 Wenran Jiang Wenran Jiang Half a year into Donald Trump’s second US presidency, a stark reality confronts Washington: the grand vision of an unprecedented focus on countering China, heralded by his strategists and supporters, has faltered. The fundamental premise that America could dramatically disengage from Europe and the Middle East, freeing up resources for a singular containment strategy against Beijing, has collided against a resistant world. Instead of pivoting to pursue China, Trump finds himself owning the very... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3319885/how-trumps-vision-single-minded-china-containment-has-failed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3319885/how-trumps-vision-single-minded-china-containment-has-failed?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Jul 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Anthony Cheung Anthony Cheung In his latest Bloomberg interview, former Morgan Stanley Asia chairman Stephen Roach said the escalating US-China conflict is providing Hong Kong with “more of an opportunity than a threat, as I had originally envisioned”. That was seen as a revision of his controversial remark in February 2024 that “Hong Kong is over”. Such pessimism was not the first of its kind: recall Fortune magazine’s cover story headlined “The Death of Hong Kong” in June 1995, only to confess that they were wrong in a... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3313598/why-hong-kong-not-over-must-adapt-changing-world-order?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3313598/why-hong-kong-not-over-must-adapt-changing-world-order?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jun 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Dennis Wilder Dennis Wilder Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to speak to US President Donald Trump directly last week, the first such call in four months, spoke volumes about the importance to Xi of finding a way through the morass of Sino-US relations. Xi’s decision ran counter to the long-standing Chinese diplomatic approach during Sino-US tensions of the Chinese president refusing calls from the US president despite persistent entreaties. The White House had repeatedly predicted a Xi-Trump phone call only to fall... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3313551/why-xis-decision-talk-trump-during-trade-crisis-speaks-volumes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3313551/why-xis-decision-talk-trump-during-trade-crisis-speaks-volumes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:30:07 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han More than 700 American scholars of China have signed a petition urging US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pause moves to impose visa restrictions against Chinese students. The petition sent to America’s top diplomat on Friday comes about a week after he announced the State Department would “aggressively” revoke visas of Chinese students, including those with “connections” to China’s Communist Party and in “critical fields” as well as apply extra scrutiny to future applicants from mainland... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3313448/over-700-american-scholars-china-urge-marco-rubio-pause-visa-constraints-students?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3313448/over-700-american-scholars-china-urge-marco-rubio-pause-visa-constraints-students?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Jun 2025 15:52:38 +0000 Yang Yao Yang Yao The provisional trade deal reached by China and the United States in Geneva last month exceeded expectations, with the two sides agreeing to roll back for 90 days most tariffs and other countermeasures they had imposed in the preceding weeks. To be sure, a number of tariffs remain – including all those the US imposed on China during Donald Trump’s first presidency – and little progress was made in resolving underlying disagreements, such as over fentanyl flows into the US. But with more talks... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3313114/how-china-could-benefit-mar-lago-accord?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3313114/how-china-could-benefit-mar-lago-accord?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jun 2025 10:30:09 +0000 Audrey Jiajia Li Audrey Jiajia Li In January 2017, just a week after taking office, US President Donald Trump signed the now-infamous travel ban, barring citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States. Harvard’s then-president, Drew Faust, issued a sharply worded open letter almost immediately, reaffirming the importance of international students and scholars to the university’s “identity and excellence”. Trump didn’t respond publicly, but it is well known that he holds grudges. By September... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3312830/trumps-war-harvard-shows-no-sign-stopping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3312830/trumps-war-harvard-shows-no-sign-stopping?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:30:07 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han A Republican bill to restrict property ownership in Texas by citizens of China passed the state’s House of Representatives on Friday, gaining new momentum after failing to become law two years ago. The Texas House voted to advance the bill, which currently also targets nationals from Iran, North Korea and Russia – countries identified by US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as national security threats – after adding a provision on Thursday to give the state’s governor broad powers... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3309828/republican-backed-bill-limit-chinese-property-ownership-gains-ground-texas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3309828/republican-backed-bill-limit-chinese-property-ownership-gains-ground-texas?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 May 2025 21:51:25 +0000 Jeffrey Wu Jeffrey Wu Imagine if the United States were governed not by career politicians and lawyers, but by engineers from MIT, biologists from Stanford and physicists from Caltech. It sounds unlikely – yet this transformation is quietly under way in China. According to a recent study by the Asia Society’s Centre for China Analysis, nearly half of the Communist Party’s youngest cohort of bureau-level officials hold PhDs. Among 75 recently appointed bureau-level cadres, 47 per cent hold doctoral degrees, and at... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3308646/chinas-technocratic-elite-will-be-powerful-force-rivalry-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3308646/chinas-technocratic-elite-will-be-powerful-force-rivalry-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 May 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Stanley Chao Stanley Chao On April 2, US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on virtually every country, friends and foes alike. The purported goal was to revitalise domestic manufacturing and create millions of high-paying American jobs. In the Rose Garden, Trump dubbed it “Liberation Day”, to “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn”. Nearly a month later, it appears Trump’s words have no more staying power than his Liberation Day tariffs, most of which he later postponed. The real... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3308505/trump-cannot-look-past-make-us-manufacturing-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3308505/trump-cannot-look-past-make-us-manufacturing-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 May 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Mark Magnier,Khushboo Razdan Mark Magnier,Khushboo Razdan US President Donald Trump’s national security adviser will leave his job to become Washington’s new United Nations ambassador, pending confirmation, the president said on social media on Thursday. The announcement followed several media reports earlier in the day that Mike Waltz was being squeezed out of the National Security Council, along with his deputy, Alex Wong, a China specialist. The move was seen as the first major shake-up in the White House following the start of the president’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3308736/mike-waltz-us-national-security-adviser-will-leave-donald-trump-administration-reports?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3308736/mike-waltz-us-national-security-adviser-will-leave-donald-trump-administration-reports?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 May 2025 16:17:29 +0000 Marina Yue Zhang Marina Yue Zhang As the US-China trade war escalated – with US President Donald Trump reportedly pressuring other countries to curb trade with China in exchange for tariff exemptions – Beijing issued a forceful warning: those who bow to US pressure will face consequences. While maintaining a hard-nosed position, China has not escaped unscathed. In the first quarter of 2025, the consumer price index – a measure of downstream demand – fell by 0.1 per cent year on year, while the producer price index – tracking... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3308458/us-vs-china-who-can-endure-trade-war-longer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3308458/us-vs-china-who-can-endure-trade-war-longer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:30:09 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han Nearly 100 days in, Donald Trump’s second term as US president has been defined by his determination to upend the established order on nearly all fronts of domestic and foreign policy. In the sixth of this series, we look at the impact of the Trump administration’s stringent monitoring of individuals who came to the US to study and conduct research, and what it might mean for America’s competitiveness and intellectual culture. Growing up in Shanghai, Ming dreamed of attending a top US university... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3308259/trumps-immigration-crackdown-chills-speech-foreign-students-and-scholars-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3308259/trumps-immigration-crackdown-chills-speech-foreign-students-and-scholars-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:05:16 +0000 Brics member countries have begun exploratory discussions on creating a multilateral investment guarantee mechanism, a senior Brazilian official told the Post, a move aimed at deepening the bloc’s role in helping to stabilise the global economy. Brazil’s secretary for international affairs in its finance ministry, Tatiana Rosito, said the talks took place after a Brics meeting on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington. The proposed mechanism... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3307998/brics-countries-eye-multilateral-mechanism-help-global-economy-brazilian-official?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3307998/brics-countries-eye-multilateral-mechanism-help-global-economy-brazilian-official?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:37:36 +0000 US President Donald Trump’s assault on American universities is pushing the country’s intellectual landscape further towards the right in an upheaval that is altering the dynamics of the US-China great power rivalry. After facing the threat of a US$400 million reduction in federal funding, Columbia University has yielded to Trump’s demands to curb antisemitism and reform its Middle East studies department, among other changes. Liberal critics have decried Columbia’s compliance as an erosion of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3303651/how-trumps-assault-us-universities-reshaping-rivalry-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3303651/how-trumps-assault-us-universities-reshaping-rivalry-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Mar 2025 11:30:08 +0000 Stanley Chao Stanley Chao While US President Donald Trump has spared no bombast even when dealing with long-standing American allies, he has been curiously reticent regarding an expected target of his rhetorical ire: China. If anything, Trump has gone out of his way to appease America’s chief rival on the global stage. He invited President Xi Jinping to his inauguration and has signalled the possibility of a new trade deal, not to mention a willingness to allow TikTok’s presence in the US market. What explains Trump’s... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3301508/why-second-trump-administration-going-easy-china-bashing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3301508/why-second-trump-administration-going-easy-china-bashing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Mar 2025 21:30:08 +0000 A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives introduced a bill on Wednesday to help federal agencies tackle “trade crimes” committed by Chinese companies, calling it a crucial companion to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The bill, sponsored by Republican Ashley Hinson of Iowa, would establish a new task force within the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute trade-related crimes committed by companies and other entities. It would also provide training and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3301222/us-house-revives-bipartisan-bill-tackle-trade-crimes-committed-chinese-companies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3301222/us-house-revives-bipartisan-bill-tackle-trade-crimes-committed-chinese-companies?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Mar 2025 23:25:22 +0000 US President Donald Trump imposed an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports to the US effective at 12.01am Tuesday, adding to the 10 per cent he levied a month ago, as he also proceeded with 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports. Trump, a self-described master deal maker, has separate and commingling trade threats in the works over fentanyl, iron and steel and broad-based reciprocity whose various deadlines and categories have sparked widespread confusion. With Tuesday’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3300949/all-set-trump-goes-ahead-additional-10-cent-tariffs-china-imports?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3300949/all-set-trump-goes-ahead-additional-10-cent-tariffs-china-imports?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Mar 2025 05:16:27 +0000 A key member of an influential US House of Representatives committee focused on China has indicated that Donald Trump might be willing to accept significant Chinese investment in America, despite signing a memo last week signalling the opposite. “I think that maybe President Trump is willing to entertain potentially significant investments by Chinese-controlled companies in the United States for certain purposes,” said Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat and ranking member of the House... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3300127/donald-trump-might-accept-certain-significant-chinese-investment-us-congressman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3300127/donald-trump-might-accept-certain-significant-chinese-investment-us-congressman?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Feb 2025 22:54:28 +0000 US President Donald Trump signed an “America First Investment Policy” memorandum on Saturday, ordering the use of “all necessary legal instruments” to curb Chinese-affiliated investments in critical sectors. The order, issued hours after Vice-Premier He Lifeng spoke with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has sparked concerns among Chinese investors and heightened tensions between the two economic powers. This explainer breaks down the policy’s scope, its implications for Hong Kong and Macau,... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3299938/what-does-trumps-america-first-investment-policy-mean-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3299938/what-does-trumps-america-first-investment-policy-mean-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:30:13 +0000 The US must do more to keep Chinese citizens from accessing its scientific research, including barring them from the country’s national laboratories, lawmakers and experts warned on Thursday, in the latest sign of intensifying government scrutiny of America’s research and development systems. “There’s been literally a whole generation of successful efforts by Communist China on stealing stuff,” said Paul Dabbar, CEO of California-based Bohr Quantum Technology and Donald Trump’s former Department... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3299527/us-should-consider-barring-chinese-citizens-its-national-labs-senate-hears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3299527/us-should-consider-barring-chinese-citizens-its-national-labs-senate-hears?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Feb 2025 23:01:23 +0000 Starkly divergent views of the US under Donald Trump and Xi Jinping’s China came into focus in Washington on Tuesday, when a lawmaker said Beijing was part of an “axis of evil” and a Chinese academic suggested Trump was trying to carve up the world to the detriment of America’s allies. Delivering a keynote address at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, US congressman Rob Wittman, vice-chair of the influential House Armed Services Committee, said the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3298296/china-axis-evil-us-lawmaker-reveals-stark-vision-countries-under-trump-and-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3298296/china-axis-evil-us-lawmaker-reveals-stark-vision-countries-under-trump-and-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:24:22 +0000 US House Democrats on Tuesday used a hearing on Chinese port investments in Latin America to blast billionaire Elon Musk and warn of potential national security risks from Republican plans to shut down the US Agency for International Development. Convened by a House subcommittee on transportation and maritime security, the hearing focused on how China’s presence in ports in Panama, Peru and Brazil could affect Washington’s interests in the region. US congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida said... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3298293/elon-musk-chinas-top-puppet-poses-us-national-security-risks-house-democrats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3298293/elon-musk-chinas-top-puppet-poses-us-national-security-risks-house-democrats?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Feb 2025 21:10:16 +0000 Donald Trump’s tariffs are being challenged. But not the ones you might think. As the recently inaugurated US president presses even more aggressive tariffs to address various national issues unrelated to trade, a legal challenge to the taxes he imposed on China in his first term has garnered fresh attention. Observers say lessons from the case may already be shaping Trump’s tariff strategy, as he invoked emergency powers last week to order new levies on China, prompting Beijing to file a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3297933/us-tariffs-targeting-china-face-legal-challenge-not-taxes-you-might-think?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3297933/us-tariffs-targeting-china-face-legal-challenge-not-taxes-you-might-think?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 08 Feb 2025 17:00:09 +0000 US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday delaying tariffs on lower-value packages from China that enjoy the exemptions until the US Commerce Department can confirm that procedures and systems are in place to process packages and collect tariff revenue. The “de minimis” exemption that allowed packages worth less than US$800 to enter the United States duty-free was removed as part of an executive order signed by Trump on February 1, which raised tariffs on Chinese imports by... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297864/trump-signs-order-delaying-tariffs-de-minimis-imports-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297864/trump-signs-order-delaying-tariffs-de-minimis-imports-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Feb 2025 18:12:04 +0000 US President Donald Trump dismissed the implications of retaliatory measures that Beijing enacted against the United States following Washington’s imposition of 10 per cent tariffs on imports from China, stating he is “in no rush” to talk to the country’s president, Xi Jinping. “That’s fine. It’s fine,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday who asked about Beijing’s tit-for-tat response to the tariffs that took effect on Tuesday. “We’re going to do very well against China and against everybody else.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297372/donald-trump-downplays-chinas-retaliatory-tariffs-and-no-rush-talk-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297372/donald-trump-downplays-chinas-retaliatory-tariffs-and-no-rush-talk-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Feb 2025 21:27:47 +0000 Two weeks into US President Donald Trump’s administration and many people are already exhausted by the US leader’s zone-flooding approach. His government keeps everyone off-kilter, unable to process one destabilising move, such as his attempt to freeze federal grant spending, before it is off to the next. Following through on escalating threats to start what The Wall Street Journal called “the dumbest trade war in history” – and violating his own deal with Canada and Mexico, the United... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3297134/rubio-pivoting-china-hawk-pragmatist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3297134/rubio-pivoting-china-hawk-pragmatist?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:30:08 +0000 In August 1993, Donald Trump visited Hong Kong with the intention of building a Trump Tower in Central. “I’m a New York boy, born and bred, and there’s only one other city in the world that impresses me – Hong Kong,” Trump enthused in an interview with this paper, accompanied by his then-girlfriend Marla Maples, who was seven months pregnant with their daughter Tiffany Trump at the time. Trump was reportedly in discussions with several of the city’s leading property developers. However, the plan... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3296819/how-hong-kong-can-make-trump-tower-dream-reality?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3296819/how-hong-kong-can-make-trump-tower-dream-reality?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Feb 2025 21:30:07 +0000 The US should welcome China’s best scientific minds into its universities to compete with the mainland’s success in AI, American lawmakers in Washington heard on Thursday, as Chinese start-up DeepSeek unnerved the global tech market this week. “Let’s steal their best engineers,” said Melanie Hart of the Washington-based Atlantic Council at a hearing convened by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Referencing the Chinese talent behind DeepSeek’s AI models, Hart testified that “we’d be better... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3296852/us-should-steal-chinas-best-ai-talent-keep-pace-senate-hears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3296852/us-should-steal-chinas-best-ai-talent-keep-pace-senate-hears?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:47:20 +0000 “From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” declared US President Donald Trump in his inauguration address, underscoring his long-held belief that only he can save America. Surrounded by tech titans and former presidents, he adopted a relatively subdued tone even as he remained faithful to his “Make America Great Again” talking points. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he said as a newly implemented ceasefire in Gaza paused the devastating 15-month conflict.... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3296029/truly-make-america-great-again-trump-must-succeed-two-things?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3296029/truly-make-america-great-again-trump-must-succeed-two-things?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Jan 2025 12:30:08 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Monday began issuing a raft of expected executive actions on immigration, energy and other issues, moving swiftly on some of his campaign pledges mere hours after being sworn in for a second term. Among the 46 issued on Monday, 10 had to do with immigration and six were related to climate and energy. Cracking down on illegal migration and “climate extremism” while championing an “America-first” stance were cornerstones of Trump’s presidential election campaign. As... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3295557/immigration-crackdown-and-paris-agreement-pull-out-among-first-acts-second-trump-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/politics/article/3295557/immigration-crackdown-and-paris-agreement-pull-out-among-first-acts-second-trump-term?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jan 2025 23:12:46 +0000 SCMP will report on the inauguration day of US president-elect Donald Trump live from 12am Tuesday HKT. The live blog will be made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. When Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, a new chapter of geopolitical uncertainty will be written, potentially ushering in an intensified... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3295285/donald-trumps-inauguration-us-china-rivalry-opens-new-and-uncertain-chapter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3295285/donald-trumps-inauguration-us-china-rivalry-opens-new-and-uncertain-chapter?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Jan 2025 01:00:18 +0000 TikTok’s CEO is expected to attend president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, according to multiple US media outlets, as some Democratic lawmakers and the incoming administration try to help the Chinese-owned app avert a ban in the US. Chew Shou Zi, who held a private meeting with Trump on December 16, will join several other technology executives who have confirmed their attendance, including X’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. The TikTok CEO will have a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3295101/tiktok-ceo-expected-attend-donald-trumps-presidential-inauguration-reports?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3295101/tiktok-ceo-expected-attend-donald-trumps-presidential-inauguration-reports?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jan 2025 23:01:37 +0000 In August 2019, then US president Donald Trump made headlines with his surprising proposal to buy Greenland from Denmark. While the idea was met with scepticism and humour, it also reignited a historical debate and shed light on Greenland’s growing geopolitical significance. As Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, his renewed interest in Greenland – and its implications for US foreign policy and Arctic governance – merits deeper examination. The idea is not new. In 1868, US secretary of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3294290/trumps-greenland-gambit-spotlights-geopolitical-tussle-over-arctic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3294290/trumps-greenland-gambit-spotlights-geopolitical-tussle-over-arctic?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jan 2025 12:30:08 +0000 The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Friday in one of the most significant free-speech cases of the social media era, possibly determining whether the wildly popular TikTok app can continue operating in the US without severing ties to its Chinese parent, ByteDance. The hearing saw the justices of America’s highest court ask questions that appeared more focused on national security concerns than the social media company’s free-speech arguments. It is unclear when a ruling will come, but... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3294319/tiktok-ban-case-us-supreme-court-hear-oral-arguments-today?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3294319/tiktok-ban-case-us-supreme-court-hear-oral-arguments-today?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:02:38 +0000 US president-elect Donald Trump has named Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street CEO, as his choice for commerce secretary, a role promoting American businesses and industries that could influence the trajectory of Sino-American relations. In announcing the nomination, Trump said Lutnick would “lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of United States Trade Representative”. It was not immediately clear whether Lutnick would lead USTR. Well-known in American... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3287298/howard-lutnick-named-us-commerce-secretary-and-will-lead-tariffs-and-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3287298/howard-lutnick-named-us-commerce-secretary-and-will-lead-tariffs-and-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:05:18 +0000 Throughout his winning campaign, US President-elect Donald Trump pitched himself as a master deal maker, vowing to secure the best economic terms for America and insisting that doing so would restore its global supremacy. His “America-first” mantra won over many voters – he appears to have won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College – even when many priorities he has put under the slogan diverge ideologically. While he threatened Beijing with heavier tariffs, for example, Trump urged... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3286308/donald-trumps-china-policy-could-pit-deal-makers-against-ideologues-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3286308/donald-trumps-china-policy-could-pit-deal-makers-against-ideologues-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:24:40 +0000 America is heading into a general election that has been unprecedented in terms of rhetoric, surprises and the potential to alter the founding principles of US democracy. In this three-part series, the Post looks at the legacy of the departing president, Joe Biden, and the influences and policies of the two contenders, former president Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris. Gleaming with golden sand and stunning vistas of the Indian Ocean, Besant Nagar Beach in southern India’s Tamil... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3285031/who-kamala-harris-potentially-americas-first-female-president?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3285031/who-kamala-harris-potentially-americas-first-female-president?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Nov 2024 17:00:09 +0000 A mere 30 per cent of the American public believe trade with China has created “some or a lot of jobs” in their state, a new study revealed in the lead-up to the US election. The East-West Centre, a Washington-based research organisation, found in a survey that a slight majority of the American public – more than 55 per cent – did not know the impacts on job creation of trading with Asia in general or with China in particular. Respondents who were categorised as members of the US general public... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3284705/only-30-us-public-think-china-trade-has-created-jobs-their-state-survey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3284705/only-30-us-public-think-china-trade-has-created-jobs-their-state-survey?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Oct 2024 18:01:21 +0000 A Chinese student at the University of Michigan was arrested on Wednesday after he found himself caught up in the Republican campaign in recent months claiming widespread voter fraud by illegal immigrants. The Michigan Department of State said the unnamed 19-year old student voted in the US presidential election on Sunday in Ann Arbor and was subsequently charged with acting as an “unauthorised elector attempting to vote” and with “perjury” for making a false statement to secure... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3284534/chinese-student-michigan-arrested-trying-vote-2024-us-presidential-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3284534/chinese-student-michigan-arrested-trying-vote-2024-us-presidential-election?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2024 23:03:38 +0000 US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday warned voters of her Republican opponent Donald Trump’s desire for “unchecked power” and hit out at his plan to impose tariffs on imports, making her final case to undecided voters in the nation’s capital a week from election day. “This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates. It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division,”... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/us-elections/analysis/article/3284405/us-election-kamala-harris-urges-voters-beware-trumps-desire-unchecked-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/us-elections/analysis/article/3284405/us-election-kamala-harris-urges-voters-beware-trumps-desire-unchecked-power?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2024 03:40:16 +0000 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday said he would take steps to prevent Chinese carmakers from selling vehicles in the US as part of his plan to save the American auto industry. “They’re going to pay a 100 per cent or maybe even a 200 per cent tariff because we’re not going to let them come into our country and destroy what’s left of our auto industry”, Trump said on Thursday, addressing the Detroit Economic Club in the manufacturing state of Michigan. Trump was referring... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3281934/donald-trump-doubles-down-china-carmakers-being-unwelcome-us-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3281934/donald-trump-doubles-down-china-carmakers-being-unwelcome-us-market?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2024 22:59:08 +0000 (Editor’s note: This report has been updated in light of race ratings finalised on November 1, including the shift of the Pennsylvania Senate race from “lean Democrat” to “toss up”.) America’s 2024 general election has many quirks like divergent voting processes, the outsize influence of “swing states” and uncertainties about how congressional results will affect the next president’s ability to govern. In the third of a four-part series, the South China Morning Post takes a closer look at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3281919/2024-us-congressional-races-what-expect-and-how-china-plays-role?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3281919/2024-us-congressional-races-what-expect-and-how-china-plays-role?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2024 15:25:35 +0000 Thirteen US states and the District of Columbia are suing Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok for allegedly failing to protect young people and misrepresenting claims about its commitment to public safety. The lawsuits, filed separately on Tuesday in the different states, accuse TikTok of using intentionally addictive software and seek financial penalties against the company. “TikTok claims that their platform is safe for young people, but that is far from true,” said New York Attorney General... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3281608/tiktok-faces-new-lawsuits-13-us-states-accusing-app-harming-young-people?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3281608/tiktok-faces-new-lawsuits-13-us-states-accusing-app-harming-young-people?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2024 14:15:52 +0000 Former US president Donald Trump’s tariff plans, including additional duties on Chinese imports, could offset US$2.7 trillion of American debt in the next decade but could also trigger revenue loss with “geopolitical repercussions”, a study has found. Trump’s fiscal proposals could add twice as much to the national debt compared to plans under US Vice-President Kamala Harris, according to a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a Washington-based non-profit group, on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3281458/donald-trumps-policies-could-add-twice-much-us-debt-kamala-harriss-study?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3281458/donald-trumps-policies-could-add-twice-much-us-debt-kamala-harriss-study?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Oct 2024 19:52:20 +0000 Last month, the US House of Representatives introduced more than two dozen bills in what was designated “China Week”, to address issues related to China ranging from trade and economic espionage to biosecurity and farmland acquisition. The bills were introduced in a single package vote and passed using a fast-track procedure requiring a majority of two-thirds of those present and voting. While all 25 bills were approved, their future is still being determined. Given the complexity of the issues... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3280823/real-victims-when-us-politicians-demonise-china-and-attack-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3280823/real-victims-when-us-politicians-demonise-china-and-attack-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:30:08 +0000 The US is banning imports from two more Chinese companies over alleged human-rights abuses involving Uygurs, it was revealed on Wednesday, the latest development in America’s drive to eliminate goods made with forced labour from its supply chain. The companies joining the Department of Homeland Security’s Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) entity list are Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel, a subsidiary of the world’s largest steelmaker, and Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3280860/us-bans-chinese-steel-and-food-additives-firms-over-xinjiang-human-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3280860/us-bans-chinese-steel-and-food-additives-firms-over-xinjiang-human-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2024 20:35:27 +0000 This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. The vice-presidential debate between US senator J.D. Vance of Ohio and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday rarely strayed outside of domestic issues following an opening question on the Israel-Iran conflict – but when it did, China was the focus. Vance, the VP pick for Donald Trump,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3280735/jd-vance-and-tim-walz-debate-gears-vp-picks-set-make-cases-2024-us-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3280735/jd-vance-and-tim-walz-debate-gears-vp-picks-set-make-cases-2024-us-election?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:10 +0000