FirstFT: China hits again in opposition to Trump’s tariffs

Good morning. In as we speak’s e-newsletter:

• China retaliates in opposition to Trump’s tariffs

• Microsoft poaches DeepMind employees behind AI podcast function

• Bangladesh rewrites its previous

Beijing has retaliated in opposition to Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China with duties of its personal however restricted their scope in a doable try to keep away from a full-blown commerce battle.

China will impose tariffs of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent on US liquefied pure gasoline, coal, crude oil and farm gear. Beijing may also impose tariffs on some automotive imports from the US and extra export controls on 5 uncommon metals. The measures will take impact on February 10.

China’s new tariffs goal about $14bn of products, Citigroup analysts mentioned — lower than 10 per cent of complete imports from the US in 2023, the final 12 months for which there was full knowledge.

China additionally introduced yesterday it had revived antitrust investigations into US tech giants Google and Nvidia, whereas contemplating a brand new probe in opposition to Intel.

The investigations “may be part of the retaliatory measures”, made by Beijing in response to Trump’s new tariffs in opposition to the nation, mentioned Liu Xu, a researcher on the Nationwide Technique Institute of Tsinghua College. Xu added that the probes could possibly be used as a software in commerce negotiations. Right here’s what else we find out about China’s strikes.

• Extra on Trump’s tariffs: The US president’s crackdown on tariff-free entry for small items might threaten the enterprise fashions of Chinese language ecommerce teams Shein and Temu whereas benefiting Amazon, analysts mentioned.

For extra protection of world commerce, join Alan Beattie’s weekly Commerce Secrets and techniques e-newsletter right here in the event you’re a premium subscriber, or improve your subscription. Right here’s what else we’re retaining tabs on as we speak:

• Financial knowledge: South Korea and Philippines report January inflation knowledge. Indonesia publishes fourth-quarter GDP.

• Outcomes: Toyota, Nomura, Novo Nordisk, Uber and Disney report earnings.

• China: Monetary markets reopen after the lunar new 12 months vacation.

• Delhi state legislature elections: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata get together is hoping to recapture the capital metropolis, which it has not received for over 27 years. (Related Press)

Have questions in regards to the Modi authorities’s plans to reinvigorate the Indian financial system? Ship them to us and we’ll reply them in a particular weekend version of the e-newsletter. Hit reply or e-mail firstft@ft.com.

5 extra prime tales

1. Microsoft’s synthetic intelligence head Mustafa Suleyman has poached his former colleagues at Google DeepMind who constructed its in style podcast-generating function, because the rival corporations race to construct profitable functions from the cutting-edge expertise. The function, “Audio Overviews”, permits customers to remodel textual content into audio that has the model of a fascinating conversational podcast.

2. FBI brokers are suing the Trump administration to forestall it from publicly naming employees concerned in an investigation into the January 6 Capitol assault in 2021 amid an intensifying crackdown in opposition to the president’s perceived enemies. They allege {that a} justice division try to establish these concerned within the probes risked placing them and their households in “immediate danger of retribution”.

3. Alphabet’s revenues undershot estimates within the fourth quarter because the search big’s cloud enterprise grew slower than anticipated. The Google mum or dad additionally revved up its spending on knowledge centres because it competes with Silicon Valley rivals within the synthetic intelligence race.

4. Apollo World Administration chief government Marc Rowan says a wave of partnerships between various and large asset managers will shake up Wall Avenue. He mentioned corporations corresponding to Apollo might create co-branded funding funds or “massive managed accounts” with conventional asset managers that may widen buyers’ possession of unlisted property.

5. Unique: Citigroup will proceed to permit most workers to work remotely no less than two days per week in a transfer that places it out of step with some rivals and the Trump administration. Right here’s why chief government Jane Fraser described versatile in-office work necessities as a aggressive benefit.

Information in-depth

Barely half a 12 months after Bangladesh’s student-led revolution overthrew Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, the interim authorities led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is rewriting the nation’s official historical past. Faculty textbooks printed by his authorities have revised the nation’s independence narrative and challenged the cult of personalty that was constructed round Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the late father of Sheikh Hasina. However Yunus’s workforce faces a variety of obstacles on this effort to remake the nation.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• ‘Fair’ algorithms: Merely including a human overview course of to automated methods doesn’t make tough trade-offs disappear, writes Sarah O’Connor.

• The Huge Learn: Have America’s industrial giants misplaced their manner by measuring success solely in monetary phrases?

• Market Perception: Shifts within the world financial and monetary order are making the idea of the “global south” much less efficient, writes Mohamed El-Erian.

Chart of the day

Chinese language producers say they’ll velocity up efforts to maneuver manufacturing to different international locations to bypass US tariffs, after Donald Trump introduced a brand new commerce offensive in opposition to Beijing. Chinese language corporations have already been diversifying their commerce lately, and China’s share of US imports has fallen markedly since Trump launched tariffs in his first time period in workplace.

Take a break from the information . . . 

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