2024/2025 Archives
Lenovo Group Limited has announced Q4 and full year results for the fiscal year 2024/25, reporting significant increases in overall group …
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
South Korea's Lee Jae-myung is the right man to deal with Donald Trump
South Koreans went to the polls to choose a new president on Tuesday, and they handed Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party a clear victory with 49.4 per cent of the vote. But even before Mr Lee was sworn in at the country's Parliament the following morning, he appeared to be surrounded by a whirlwind of questions, accusations and warnings. 'The first task facing South Korea's next leader: Handling Trump' was one headline, referring not just to the 25 per cent tariffs Seoul may have to deal with from Washington, but also Mr Lee's willingness to improve relations with China and North Korea, a shift from the very pro-US and Japan outlook of former president Yoon Suk-yeol, who had plunged the country into chaos by briefly declaring martial law last December. It may indeed be quite the challenge if Mr Trump listens to one self-appointed adviser, the hardcore Maga activist Laura Loomer, who posted on X: 'RIP South Korea. The communists have taken over and won the presidential election today. This is terrible.' Mr Lee faces a country with deep political divides, and the two other candidates, both on the right, won a combined total of just over 50 per cent. So even though the election was widely seen as being driven by anger at Mr Yoon's self-implosion – for which he was impeached, arrested and driven from office – which hindered the candidacy of Kim Moon-soo, who is from the same People Power Party as Mr Yoon, 'the conservative tally outweighed Lee's support even after the debacle of Yoon's martial law decree', as one analyst put it. Not enough young people support Mr Lee, say some. He faces legal charges – which he says are politically motivated – although they may be suspended until after his five-year term as President ends. Others accuse him of being a showy populist who has used fiery and – they would say – irresponsible rhetoric about US troops stationed in the country. How will he cope with an economy that is 'sputtering'? Oh, and to top it all, he apparently doesn't even have a proper place to work, since Mr Yoon moved the presidential office out of the Blue House, the official residence, to a military compound that none of the candidates said they liked. There are other ways to look at Mr Lee's victory, of course. The 6 per cent margin of his win over Mr Kim was more than emphatic enough in a three-way race, and with his Democratic Alliance partners holding 173 out of the 300 parliamentary seats, there should be none of the logjam between the executive and the legislature that led Mr Yoon to make such a rash (and career-ending) move. Mr Lee has called for 'national unity' and said on election night that he wanted South Korea to be a country 'where we live together with mutual recognition and co-operation rather than hatred and loathing'. All of this should reassure investors, while the new President has a $25 billion stimulus package up his sleeve, plans for labour and corporate governance reforms, and wants to go all-out on stimulating domestic demand. As for Mr Trump, despite Ms Loomer's wild characterisation of Mr Lee as a 'communist' – the adjectives 'liberal' and 'centrist' are more commonly preferred – the two leaders may be more likely to hit it off than some have suggested. They are both populists: Mr Lee made a point of being filmed when he climbed over barriers to enter the National Assembly to vote against Mr Yoon's imposition of martial law last December, and he has been referred to as 'Korea's Bernie Sanders', but also as 'Korea's Trump', for his candid speech and ability to connect with the grassroots. On North Korea, if Mr Trump enters negotiations with Pyongyang again, as he did during his first term, the two could be very in tune. In fact, this February Mr Lee's party sent a letter to the Nobel Committee urging them to nominate Mr Trump for this year's peace prize in the hope that he 'continue his peace-building efforts during his second term', as a party official put it. That was a canny move that will surely have been brought to Mr Trump's attention. Both men have survived assassination attempts. Mr Lee was stabbed in the neck in January 2024 and was airlifted to hospital. Just like Mr Trump, Mr Lee drew inspiration from his survival, saying: 'Since my life was saved by our people, I will dedicate the rest of it solely to serving them.' And when it comes to trade discussions with the US, not only has Mr Lee said it is 'the most important issue' for him, after 'overcoming people's hardships and recovering from the current turmoil', but he seems prepared both to stand his ground and to show the US President whatever deference is required. 'Diplomacy between independent countries can be mutually beneficial,' Mr Lee said on Korean radio last Monday. 'We have plenty of cards to play. There's room to give and take, and that's what we must do well.' Asked how he would react to tough words from Mr Trump, Mr Lee was ready. 'That's just the way powerful countries operate,' he said. 'Any humiliation or pressure is not about me personally – it's about the entire nation. If it's necessary, I'll crawl under his legs. What's the big deal?' So for sure, Mr Lee faces challenges. But with a clear mandate, allies dominating Parliament, and being seen as the person bringing back stability after the tumult of the past six months, he has a lot going for him too. Navigating better relations with China while maintaining the treaty alliance with the US won't perhaps be easy, but he won't be the only leader having to thread that needle. Above all, his pragmatism may end up being his greatest strength. Take his concluding words about his possible approach to Mr Trump: 'An hour of the president's time is worth 52 million hours of the Korean people's time,' he said. 'If the president has to bend briefly so that 52 million people can stand tall, then that's what must be done.'
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
China's rare earth export curbs hit Europe's auto industry
Some European auto parts plants have suspended output and Mercedes-Benz is considering ways to protect against shortages of rare earths, as concerns about the damage from China's restrictions on critical mineral exports deepen. China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of rare earths and related magnets has upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. The move underscores China's dominance of the critical mineral industry, key to the green energy transition, and is seen as leverage by China in its trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. China produces around 90% of the world's rare earths. EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Wednesday that he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed to clarify the rare earth situation as quickly as possible. "We must reduce our dependencies on all countries, particularly on a number of countries like China, on which we are more than 100% dependent," said EU Commissioner for Industrial Strategy Stephane Sejourne. "The export (curbs) increase our will to diversify," he said as Brussels identified 13 new projects outside the bloc aimed at increasing supplies of metals and minerals essential. Earlier on Wednesday, Mercedes-Benz production chief Joerg Burzer said he was talking to the carmaker's top suppliers about building "buffers" such as rare earth stockpiles to protect against potential threats to supply. Mercedes was currently not affected by the shortage. BMW said that part of its supplier network was affected by the shortage but that its own plants were running as normal. Europe's auto supplier association CLEPA said several production lines have been shut down after running out of supplies, the latest to warn about the growing threat to manufacturing due to the controls. Of the hundreds of requests for export licenses made by auto suppliers since early April, only a quarter have been granted so far, CLEPA added, with some requests rejected on what the association described as "highly procedural grounds". It did not identify the companies but warned of further outages. While China's announcement in April coincided with a broader package of retaliation against Washington's tariffs, the measures apply globally and are causing worry among business executives around the world. German and U.S. automakers have complained that the restrictions imposed by China threaten production, following a similar grievance from an Indian EV maker last week. Many are lobbying their governments to find a quick solution and are scrambling to find alternatives. Some companies only have enough supplies to last a few weeks or months, Wolfgang Weber, CEO of Germany's electrical and digital industry association ZVEI, said in an emailed statement. "Companies currently feel abandoned by politicians and are partly looking for solutions to their difficult situation on their own in China," he said. Swedish Autoliv,, the world's biggest maker of airbags and seatbelts, said its operations are not affected, but CEO Mikael Bratt said he has set up a task force to manage the situation. Reliance on China Automakers from General Motors to BMW and major suppliers like ZF and BorgWarner are researching or have developed motors with low- to zero rare earth content in a bid to cut their reliance on China, but few have managed to scale production to bring down costs. BMW has deployed a magnet-free electric motor for its latest generation of electric cars, but still requires rare earths for smaller motors powering components like windshield wipers or car window rollers. German carmaker Volkswagen said it is not seeing any shortages at the moment. China's slow pace of easing its critical mineral export controls has become a focus of Trump's criticism of Beijing, which he says has violated the truce reached last month to roll back tariffs and trade restrictions. Trump has sought to redefine the United States' trading relationship with its biggest economic rival by imposing steep tariffs on billions of dollars of imported goods in hopes of narrowing a trade deficit and bringing back lost manufacturing. Trump imposed tariffs as high as 145% against China only to scale them back after a selloff in stock, bond and currency markets over the sweeping nature of the levies. China has responded with its own tariffs and is leveraging its dominance in key supply chains to persuade Trump to back down. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk this week to try to iron out their differences and the export curbs are expected to be high on the agenda. In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said that Xi is "VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH", highlighting the fragility of the deal.
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Trump calls China's Xi tough, 'hard to make a deal with'
U.S. President Donald Trump called China's Xi Jinping tough and "extremely hard to make a deal with" on Wednesday, exposing frictions after the White House raised expectations for a long-awaited phone call between the two leaders this week. "I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH," Trump said in a social media post. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Monday Trump would likely speak with Xi this week to iron out differences over last month's tariff agreement in Geneva, including the handling of critical minerals. Trump's early morning post on Truth Social did not bode well for a speedy resolution of their differences. Leavitt was the third top Trump aide to forecast an imminent call between the leaders of the two largest global economies, but Xi has proved an elusive interlocutor. China said in April that the two leaders had not had a conversation recently. A U.S. trade court last week ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing the bulk of his tariffs on imports from China and other countries under an emergency powers act. Less than 24 hours later, a federal appeals court reinstated the tariffs, saying it was pausing the trade court ruling to consider the government's appeal.
