Growth Up, Pressure On: China Beats Forecasts as U.S. Pushes for Deal
China’s Economy Grew Faster Than Expected—Before U.S. Tariff Blitz Hit
China’s economy beat expectations to expand by 5.4 per cent in the first quarter, keeping it broadly on track to meet this year’s official target even as uncertainty remains high over how the economy will fare amid an unprecedented trade war with the United States. The closely watched gross domestic product (GDP) figures, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday, came in above the 5.16 per cent forecast by economists polled by Chinese financial data provider Wind. The year-on-year growth in the first three months of 2025 was in line with the 5.4 per cent expansion recorded in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew by 1.2 per cent. Beijing has set an annual growth target of around 5 per cent, but worries are mounting over how the country can achieve this challenging goal, which would require strong fiscal support – especially amid escalating external shocks from a tariff tit-for-tat with Washington. Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS, said the economy “got off to a good and steady start and maintained the recovery momentum, with innovation playing an increasingly leading role”, in the first quarter. But he cautioned that “the external environment is becoming more complex and severe, the drive for the growth of effective domestic demand is insufficient, and the foundation for sustained economic recovery and growth is yet to be consolidated” - SCMP
"The ball is in China's court: China needs to make a deal with us, we don't have to make a deal with them," Trump says, in a statement read out by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to a press briefing on Tuesday.
"China wants what we have... the American consumer," the statement said.
"The President again has made it quite clear that he's open to a deal with China, but China needs to make a deal with the United States of America," Leavitt said - BBC
Chinese President Xi Jinping is currently on a "charm offensive" tour of South East Asia - taking in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia - as he tries to strengthen ties with key trading partners. Yesterday, he met with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim. The visit is of interest as Malaysia has also had deep ties with Russia.
Hong Kong’s post office will stop shipping small parcels to the United States after Washington announced plans to charge tariffs on small-value parcels from the southern Chinese city, the government said Wednesday. The U.S. government earlier announced that it would end a customs exception allowing small-value parcels from Hong Kong to enter the U.S. without tax, slapping a 120% tariff on them starting from May 2. The “de minimis” exemption currently allows shipments that are worth less than $800 to go tax-free. A government statement said Hongkong Post would not collect tariffs on behalf of Washington, and will suspend accepting non-airmail parcels containing goods destined for the U.S. on Wednesday, since items shipped by sea take more time. It will accept airmail parcels until Apr. 27. “For sending items to the US, the public in Hong Kong should be prepared to pay exorbitant and unreasonable fees due to the U.S.’s unreasonable and bullying acts,” the government wrote - AP
The largest US exporter - Boeing - has been caught in the US-Sino crossfire after President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs of up to 145 percent on many Chinese products, sparking retaliatory 125 percent levies from Beijing.
The duties more than double the cost of aircraft and spare parts manufactured in the United States. On Tuesday, Trump accused China of reneging on a "big Boeing deal," following a Bloomberg news report that Beijing ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of the company's jets. The report also said that Beijing requested Chinese carriers to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms. Boeing has declined to comment on the matter.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that China's Juneyao Airlines was delaying delivery of a Boeing widebody aircraft as the growing trade conflict drives up costs of big-ticket products. Boeing's website shows its order book at the end of March contained 130 aircraft due to Chinese customers, including airlines and leasing companies. But as some buyers prefer to remain anonymous, the true figure could be higher - AFP
Moscow's relationship with Jakarta is in the spotlight, after a report claimed the Kremlin had asked to station war planes at an air base 1,200 kilometres from Darwin, Australia. The story, published by global military intelligence agency Janes, dominated Australia's federal election discourse on Tuesday afternoon. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles both scrambled to get specifics, with the latter eventually clarifying it wasn't going to happen. But deepening military ties between Indonesia and Russia are not new: in fact, diplomats from both countries have been speaking about them for years. Russia and Indonesia have a warm relationship and held naval exercises in the Java Sea late last year. - ABC
The US lifted sanctions it had imposed over alleged corruption on a senior minister in Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, underscoring the stark shift in bilateral ties under President Donald Trump. Antal Rogan, Orban’s cabinet chief who oversees the secret services as well as government communications, was removed from the Specially Designated Nationals List of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to an update on the Treasury Department’s website. The Joe Biden administration had leveled the sanctions in January in a last salvo against the Orban administration, which it had criticized for alleged high-level graft and the erosion of the rule of law. It had said Rogan was a key official in the distribution of resources to “cronies,” a charge the Hungarian minister denied. “The delisting of Antal Rogan from the sanctions list is proof that the winds are blowing from a different direction in Washington,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement late Tuesday. He said Rogan’s sanctioning had been “political revenge” on the part of the Biden administration and its former envoy. - Bloomberg
The Russian government’s Family Mortgage program has started offering subsidized loans to Russian citizens who want to buy property in Ukrainian towns -- including some under Kyiv’s control -- alongside cities within Russia. Some of the Ukrainian cities on the list, such as Melitopol and Primorsk, remain under Russian occupation, while others -- including Kherson, Beryslav, and Snihurivka -- have been included despite being recaptured by Ukrainian forces. Dom.rf, the financial institution operating the program, has been offering these mortgages to families with children under the age of 7 since April 1. In cities still under Ukrainian control, daily life continues despite the threat of attacks. Kramatorsk, the administrative center of the Donetsk region, was retaken by Ukrainian forces in the summer of 2014, during the early stages of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Today, it is home to around 60,000 people. “If someone bought my apartment or house, I’d break their arms and legs. How else could I react?” said Mykola, a 55-year-old schoolteacher who lives locally. “Imagine someone buying your home without your knowledge -- how would you feel?!” Although most schools in Kramatorsk were destroyed by missile attacks and classes are now held online, hospitals, shops, and other essential services remain operational, according to RFE/RL reporters on the ground. “I believe Russia is doing this to psychologically pressure Ukrainians and destabilize our society,” Mykola said. Russia maintains that Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea regions are part of the Russian Federation -- a claim that has been broadly rejected by the international community - RFE/RL
Pressure is mounting on the United Arab Emirates over its presence at a crucial conference in London aimed at stopping the war in Sudan after a leaked confidential UN report raised fresh questions over the UAE’s role in the devastating conflict. The UAE has been accused of secretly supplying weapons to Sudanese paramilitaries via neighbouring Chad, a charge it has steadfastly denied. However an internal report – marked highly confidential and seen by the Guardian – detected “multiple” flights from the UAE in which transport planes made apparently deliberate attempts to avoid detection as they flew into bases in Chad where arms smuggling across the border into Sudan has been monitored. The allegations raise complications for the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, who controversially invited the UAE alongside 19 other states for Sudan peace talks at Lancaster House on 15 April. The date marks the second anniversary of a civil war that has caused the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 12 million people. A senior diplomat, who is familiar with the leaked report but requested anonymity, said: “The UK needs to explain how it is responding to massacres of children and aid workers while hosting the UAE at its London conference.” - The Guardian
Comment: The allegations of secretly smuggling weapons to Sudanese paramilitaries must be uncomfortable for UAE rulers as they have also been supporting humanitarian efforts in the country - in large part via agreement between Dubai Cares and my former employer, UNICEF. In fact, in 2013, when I served as acting head of UNICEF comms in Khartoum, I recall a “documentation and evaluation visit” by a delegation from Dubai Cares. The purpose was to view up close UNICEF projects supported by the organization. Dubai Cares is no small actor: it calls itself “the world’s largest charitable establishment solely devoted to improving primary education around the world. It was launched in 2007 by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Last year, the UAE signed an agreement with UNICEF to provide $7 million “in support of critical humanitarian efforts” in Sudan and South Sudan.
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