FirstFT: US expects China to delay uncommon earth export controls

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In at present’s publication:

• China prone to delay uncommon earths export controls

• OpenAI’s unconventional dealmaking

• The highest govt who blew the whistle twice

• A traveller’s information to Hong Kong

We begin with the US-China talks in Malaysia over the weekend, which have raised hopes of a commerce truce extension when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet later this week. Right here’s what to know.

Uncommon earths reduction? Following two days of negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, US officers anticipate China to delay introducing export controls on uncommon earths. Beijing’s announcement of the sweeping controls this month triggered a pointy escalation in commerce tensions and threatened to torpedo plans for Trump and Xi’s first summit since 2019. A senior US official informed the FT that Beijing’s probably delay was prompted by Washington’s menace of extra tariffs in addition to stress from different nations that depend on the minerals.

Wanting forward: Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who led the US delegation, mentioned the edges had agreed on a “very positive” framework for Trump and Xi to approve after they meet on the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in South Korea on Thursday. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday as a part of a week-long journey to Asia. The US president flies to Japan at present to satisfy Sanae Takaichi, the brand new prime minister, earlier than heading to South Korea for his summit with the Chinese language chief.

Learn extra concerning the first leg of Trump’s tour, which included a sequence of offers with south-east Asian nations.

Right here’s what else we’re preserving tabs on at present:

• Financial knowledge: Taiwan publishes month-to-month jobs figures.

• ‘Davos in the Desert’: Saudi Arabia’s state-backed Future Funding Initiative occasion begins in Riyadh. Audio system embrace JPMorgan Chase chief govt Jamie Dimon, his HSBC counterpart Georges Elhedery and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

5 extra high tales

1. OpenAI chief Sam Altman and an internal circle of executives masterminded offers value as a lot as $1.5tn with little enter from exterior advisers, regardless of uncommon buildings that tie the start-up’s fortunes to among the world’s largest corporations. Learn extra about OpenAI’s unconventional dealmaking course of.

2. The US dangers falling additional behind China within the world electrical automobile race after the Trump administration’s championing of the petrol engine led to a steep drop in EV investments, business executives have warned. EV-related investments tumbled by nearly a 3rd to $8.1bn within the three months to September, in accordance with new knowledge.

3. French police have made the primary arrests linked to the heist on the Louvre final week, when 4 burglars broke into the Paris museum and made off with eight items of royal jewelry. One of many suspects was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport whereas making an attempt to go away France. Learn the complete story.

4. A CVC govt who’s considered one of Spain’s strongest but discreet dealmakers has been dragged into the highlight by a tax probe right into a multibillion-euro healthcare deal. Javier de Jaime Guijarro is being investigated by a Spanish court docket over allegations of tax fraud that threaten to rock Spain’s personal fairness sector.

5. Novartis has agreed to purchase Avidity Biosciences, a biotech targeted on uncommon ailments, for $12bn, within the greatest acquisition by the drugmaker in additional than a decade. Vas Narasimhan, the longtime chief govt of Novartis, mentioned two of the three potential medicine in Avidity’s pipeline have the potential to succeed in annual peak gross sales of many billions of {dollars}.

FT Journal

Meet the highest govt who blew the whistle — twice. Mark MacGann leaked the Uber Recordsdata, exposing the tech large’s lobbying, affect peddling and rule breaking throughout a number of continents. The choice value him professionally and positioned him beneath authorized menace. Now, after one other private reckoning, he reveals the inside fact about telecoms conglomerate Veon.

We’re additionally studying . . .

• Japan: A list of office microaggressions factors to a downward shift in tolerance ranges, writes Leo Lewis.

• Exclamation marks in emails: Pilita Clark on what the analysis exhibits about individuals who litter work emails with exclamation factors.

• Trump’s ballroom blitz: The US president’s huge refurbishment of the White Home ignores questions of fashion and scale, writes FT structure critic Edwin Heathcote.

• Fan energy: Amplified by social media, fanbases now really feel nearer than ever to their idols — for good and for unwell, writes FT pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney.

Chart of the day

Argentines voted on Sunday in midterm elections that will decide the way forward for President Javier Milei’s free market reforms, as a disaster of confidence in his authorities roils Argentine belongings.

Take a break from the information . . . 

Don’t miss HTSI’s traveller’s information to Hong Kong. David Coggins explored the ever-evolving metropolis’s many sights, from dim sum and horseracing to its famed tailors. “The culture of the city was always to dress up, and that remains the norm,” says Mark Cho, co-founder of The Armoury.