FirstFT: Trump to ship a whole lot of Marines to Los Angeles

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. On as we speak’s agenda:

• Trump to deploy Marines to Los Angeles

• Jimmy Lai’s son blasts UK ‘weakness’

• Japan’s ‘indispensable’ firms

Tons of of Marines shall be deployed to Los Angeles regardless of calls by California’s governor to not ship federal forces, marking an additional escalation in a conflict between probably the most populous US state and Donald Trump’s administration.

What’s taking place: About 700 Marines can be dispatched to Los Angeles to guard “federal personnel and federal property”, the US Northern Command stated yesterday. The mobilisation of Marines got here after about 300 members of the Nationwide Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday. Hundreds of individuals have gathered downtown to protest towards raids by federal immigration brokers within the state. 

California to sue Trump: The choice to ship Marines got here simply hours after California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom stated the state would sue Trump over the deployment of nationwide guard troops. Energetic-duty navy incessantly help throughout pure disasters and different incidents, however it is rather uncommon that they’re deployed to help in legislation enforcement. Newsom stated in an announcement issued yesterday with the state’s attorney-general: “This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic.”

Now we have extra on the protests and the escalating struggle between Trump and California.

• Go deeper: The deployment of the Nationwide Guard within the second-largest US metropolis, one that’s largely liberal, was “clearly done as an authoritarian show of strength”, stated specialists.

• FT View: Trump’s deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles is a warning to states against his immigration clampdown, the editorial board writes.

Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on as we speak:

5 extra high tales

1. A high White Home official has stated US President Donald Trump would ease restrictions on promoting chips to China if Beijing agreed to hurry up the export of uncommon earths, as the 2 international locations started excessive stakes commerce talks in London. It might mark a major departure from Joe Biden’s administration, which launched the measures to make it tougher for China to acquire superior US chip know-how that might assist its navy.

• US-China commerce: China’s exports to the US plunged final month by probably the most because the starting of the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Extra commerce information: American firms are urging Washington to decrease tariffs on Vietnam, arguing that the nation has turn into a significant a part of their “China plus one” diversification technique.

2. Starbucks will lower the costs of a number of iced and tea-based drinks in China, because the espresso chain grapples with the proliferation of cheaper home options in its second-biggest market. Companies in Chinese language shopper sectors from automobiles to meals and beverage have been below strain to decrease costs amid a weaker financial backdrop.

3. The son of Jimmy Lai has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s UK authorities of displaying “weakness” in direction of China within the face of the continued detention of the previous Hong Kong media tycoon and British citizen. Sebastien Lai instructed the FT that the well being of his 77-year-old father, who was first arrested in Hong Kong in 2020, was quickly deteriorating and known as on Starmer to satisfy his household forward of the G7 summit this month.

4. Shares in Japanese resort developer turned bitcoin investor Metaplanet soared yesterday after it unveiled plans to boost about $5.4bn so as to add to its massive stockpile of the cryptocurrency. Metaplanet’s goal of 210,000 bitcoin — or 1 per cent of the entire provide of the cryptocurrency — would make it the world’s second-largest company holder of the digital foreign money.

5. Brazil is hoping to promote its first sovereign debt within the Chinese language market as quickly as this yr and can be eager to re-enter the euro-denominated bond market, a senior minister instructed the FT. The leftwing administration in Brasília is planning the so-called panda bond — debt issued in Chinese language renminbi by a overseas borrower — because it seeks to consolidate hyperlinks with Beijing.

The Huge Learn

Whereas big firms resembling Toyota, Sony and Nintendo are well-known exterior of Japan, the nation has a thick center layer of so-called pocket champions with startlingly excessive shares in area of interest markets. For the federal government, hostile bids for these teams pose each a chance for consolidation and the specter of dropping delicate applied sciences. A chair of 1 such mid-cap firm instructed the FT: “[If] we sell everything to foreigners at a high price, then what’s left at the end?”

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Musk vs Trump: When cash energy and political energy conflict, there may be solely one option to guess, writes Gideon Rachman.

• How AI is shaking up jobs: New know-how is beginning to have a profound impact on work and employment, writes Anjli Raval.

• Who comes after MBS?: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed is all however assured to turn into monarch, however his fast ascent has upended the dominion’s royal hierarchy.

Chart of the day

In a single day rates of interest in Hong Kong have been caught simply above zero per cent for greater than a month. Whereas not instantly apparent, that’s weird, surprising and doubtlessly alarming for world markets, writes Robin Harding.

Take a break from the information

Set in an impoverished ceramics village throughout China’s cultural revolution, Jia Pingwa’s monumental novel Previous Kiln is an intimate narrative of how political violence maps on to older quarrels, clan feuds and current struggles for energy. And it has lastly been translated into English. Learn our evaluation by Isabel Hilton.