The Chinese president upgraded relations with Serbia and Hungary, but in France made few if any concessions to reduce the flood of Chinese imports into the EU.

The US will impose new, elevated tariffs that focus on key industries including electric vehicles, batteries and solar cells, according to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.

As China looks to tap Europe’s vast market for lithium batteries, Hungary has become an attractive destination for production to make logistics simpler – and bypass EU trade investigations.

More multinationals are undergoing a ‘decoupling’ with their China-based operations, a new business survey finds as foreign direct investment sinks and analysts say expatriate staff are harder to come by.

European firms have been revising expectations for the Chinese market while planning for a projected economic slowdown, further adding to China’s challenges and ‘setting a negative cycle in motion’.

China’s exports returned to positive growth in April amid a recovery of global demand, but analysts said the focus should still be on sustaining momentum in domestic demand.

Success of the US$17 billion Iraq Development Road depends on Iraq-Turkey ties, which have been fraught over oil exports and militant issues, analysts say.

New designation of relationship brings diplomatic ties to highest level, underscored by 17 agreements signed between the two sides.

The Chinese president’s visit to Serbia coincides with the anniversary of the deaths of three Chinese journalists, say analysts, but not visiting the site ‘shows Xi does not want to overly irritate the US, or put his Serbian hosts in a difficult position’.

The popular social media platform has started to invite merchants for a beta run of TikTok Shop in Mexico, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The UK ended the tax-free shopping incentive for tourists in 2021 and has resisted strong lobbying from retailers and other companies linked to the tourism sector.

Further attacks on politicians in Germany have rattled the country and prompted renewed outrage from leaders, after Berlin’s former mayor was assaulted in a library.

Xi’s arrival and remarks published in Serbia coincided with 25th anniversary of US air strike that killed three Chinese journalists.

With China’s ties to Russia under stronger scrutiny from the West, banks are keeping a closer eye on transactions with links to Moscow – and China’s exporters are concerned their bottom line will suffer.

First visit by Chinese president to Europe in over five years is highlighting the pivotal role Beijing’s ties with Moscow play in Europe’s relationship with China.

French President welcomes Beijing’s commitment to ‘refrain from selling any weapons or aid’ to Russia, but commerce official reinforces the need to enhance bilateral trade.

Entourage features senior Chinese diplomats and officials who oversee the country’s economic and trade affairs.

As geopolitical changes have made working with China more risky than before, European firms have backed away from infrastructure projects linked with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi says China and Europe can contribute to world peace, ahead of meeting with President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Matthias Ecke, a European parliament lawmaker, was set upon by four attackers as he put up election posters in an attack decried as a threat to democracy.

France is Chinese president’s first stop on Europe trip, and Beijing is pinning its hopes on Paris to push Brussels to adopt more ‘positive and pragmatic’ approach to China-EU ties.

President Xi Jinping’s European trip comes amid barrage of EU trade and competition tools largely targeting Chinese firms, including dramatic raids in the Netherlands and Poland.