CNA938 Rewind - Wrap of Japan's business headlines: Japan-US tariff talks, Nippon Steel deal
CNA938 Rewind
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From the Japan-US tariff negotiations, to the latest on the Nippon Steel deal and the idea of a US-Japan sovereign wealth fund, Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman get a round-up of the business headlines in Japan. For that, they speak with Vishnu Varathan, Managing Director & Chief Economist, Asia ex-Japan, Mizuho Bank.
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CNA
44 minutes ago
- CNA
Beijing appoints a new top representative to Hong Kong
Zheng Yanxiong has been removed as director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong and the central government has appointed Zhou Ji, the executive deputy director of its top office for the city's affairs, to replace him. The State Council, China's cabinet, announced late on Friday (May 30) that Zhou, the executive deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), had been appointed to lead the central government's liaison office in the city. In a brief statement, it also said it had removed Zheng, 61, from all three of his posts, namely as the director of the liaison office, as deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and as adviser to the city's national security committee. In a statement, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu welcomed Zhou and thanked Zheng for his support of Hong Kong in the past. Zhou, who was appointed as executive deputy director of the HKMAO in 2023, will also take over Zheng's role on the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of Hong Kong. Zheng was appointed as head of the liaison office in January of that year to succeed Luo Huining, who was 68 at the time. Zheng was appointed as deputy director of the HKMAO earlier that same year. Last month, he urged the Hong Kong government to speed up the development of the Northern Metropolis and strengthen the city's cooperation with mainland China to become a 'superconnector' and 'super value-adder' for the digital economy. The city leader also extended his gratitude to Zheng for upholding the 'one country, two systems' principle in safeguarding national security and maintaining constitutional order during his more than two years as liaison office chief, noting the Beijing official's full support for the local legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. 'Zheng Yanxiong has fully supported the HKSAR government in fulfilling its constitutional responsibility and historic mission of completing the local legislation for Article 23 of the Basic Law,' Lee said in the statement in Chinese. Lee said since Zhou had taken up his role with the HKMAO in 2023 he had been directly involved in the management and coordination of Hong Kong affairs and was deeply familiar with the country's policies for the city. He added that Zhou last year led a team to Hong Kong to carry out an inspection and research, coordinating work on the implementation of a series of central policies to support the city and conveying Beijing's strong support for the financial hub's development and its care and concern for Hongkongers. Zhou also had extensive experience in formulating and implementing policy, as well as rich experience in regional governance, Lee said, citing the Beijing official's previous posts in Hubei and Henan. He had no work experience in Hong Kong or Macau when he was made the No 2 official at the HKMAO. His appointment was part of the office's upgrade to a higher-level outfit reporting directly to the Communist Party leadership. Last month, Zhou attended a high-level conference in Hangzhou, the capital of tech powerhouse Zhejiang province, where Lee was leading a delegation. Zhou said at the event that Hong Kong had won global recognition amid the US-China trade war by maintaining its 'strategic determination to firmly uphold the international order, the multilateral trading system and the city's status as a separate customs entity'. He reiterated that Beijing would always fully support Hong Kong in taking advantage of its uniqueness and deepening cooperation with mainland provinces and cities, which would serve the country's overall development. 'With the strong leadership of the central government and the institutional strengths of the 'one country, two systems' governing principle, the cooperation between the two places will surely be able to lead the nation's high-quality development,' he said at the event. Lau Siu-kai, a consultant to the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, told the Post that Zhou was a very seasoned official. 'He should have greater political powers in implementing the central government's policies in Hong Kong,' he said.
CNA
2 hours ago
- CNA
China urges halt to auto industry's bruising price wars
SHANGHAI: China called on Saturday (May 31) for its automotive industry to halt brutal price wars, as a threat to the sector's health and sustainable development, after key executives jousted over pricing pressure following large discounts offered to buyers. Tension between some top players in the world's largest auto market has spilt into the open as competition intensifies, with price wars begun in early 2023 showing little sign of abating, despite concern among both government and industry. The industry ministry vowed to step up efforts to correct what it called excessive competition, the official news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. "There are no winners in a 'price war', let alone a future," the agency cited an unidentified ministry official as saying. The comments came after fresh incentives were offered last week on more than 20 models by electric vehicle giant BYD. This prompted several rivals, such as Geely and Chery, to follow suit. The ministry's comments echo a similar call on Saturday by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers (CAAM) for a truce in the price wars, saying they affect profitability and efficiency. It added that a new round of price war "panic" was touched off in China after substantial discounts were offered on May 23 by an automaker it did not identify. It proposed remedies such as auto companies sticking to the principle of fair competition and larger players refraining from market monopolies. "Apart from reducing the price of goods according to law, enterprises shall not dump goods at prices below cost," it added.
CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Trump plans to double steel, aluminium tariffs to 50%
WEST MIFFLIN, Pennsylvania: US President Donald Trump on Friday (May 30) said he planned to increase tariffs on foreign imports of steel and aluminium to 50 per cent from 25 per cent, ratcheting up pressure on global steel producers and deepening his trade war. "We're going to bring it from 25 per cent to 50 per cent – the tariffs on steel into the United States of America, which will even further secure the steel industry in the United States," he said at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump announced the tariff increase on steel products at a speech given just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was talking up an agreement between Nippon Steel and US Steel. Trump said the US$14.9 billion deal, like the tariff increase, will help keep jobs for steel workers in the US. He later posted on social media that the increased tariff would also apply to aluminium products and that it would take effect on Wednesday. Shares of steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc surged 26 per cent after the market close as investors bet the new levies will help its profits. The doubling of steel and aluminium levies intensifies Trump's global trade war and came just hours after he accused China of violating an agreement with the US to mutually roll back tariffs and trade restrictions for critical minerals. Canada's Chamber of Commerce quickly denounced the tariff hike as "antithetical to North American economic security". "Unwinding the efficient, competitive and reliable cross-border supply chains like we have in steel and aluminium comes at a great cost to both countries," Candace Laing, president of the chamber, said in a statement. Trump spoke at US Steel's Mon Valley Works, a steel plant that symbolises both the one-time strength and the decline of US manufacturing power as the Rust Belt's steel plants and factories lost business to international rivals. Closely contested Pennsylvania is also a major prize in presidential elections. The US is the world's largest steel importer, excluding the European Union, with a total of 26.2 million tons of imported steel in 2024, according to the Department of Commerce. As a result, the new tariffs will likely increase steel prices across the board, hitting industry and consumers alike. Steel and aluminium tariffs were among the earliest put into effect by Trump when he returned to office in January. The tariffs of 25 per cent on most steel and aluminium imported to the US went into effect in March, and he had briefly threatened a 50 per cent levy on Canadian steel but ultimately backed off. Under the so-called Section 232 national security authority, the import taxes include both raw metals and derivative products as diverse as stainless steel sinks, gas ranges, air conditioner evaporator coils, horseshoes, aluminium frying pans and steel door hinges. The 2024 import value for the 289 product categories came to US$147.3 billion, with nearly two-thirds aluminium and one-third steel, according to Census Bureau data retrieved through the US International Trade Commission's Data Web system.
