[🇨🇳] China vs USA

[Lulldapull]

China’s DeepSeek AI a ‘wakeup call’ for US tech firms

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Chinese start-up DeepSeek's technology should act as spur for American companies and said it was good that companies in China have come up with a cheaper, faster method of artificial intelligence.

www.thedailystar.net

China’s DeepSeek AI a ‘wakeup call’ for US tech firms
Warns Trump, takes aim at DEI, Covid expulsions, transgender troops

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• Trump orders planning for 'Iron Dome' missile shield for US​
• His admin fires justice dept lawyers who investigated him​

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Chinese start-up DeepSeek's technology should act as spur for American companies and said it was good that companies in China have come up with a cheaper, faster method of artificial intelligence.

"The release of DeepSeek, AI from a Chinese company should be a wakeup call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win," Trump said in Florida.

"I've been reading about China and some of the companies in China, one in particular coming up with a faster method of AI and much less expensive method, and that's good because you don't have to spend as much money. I view that as a positive, as an asset," Trump said.

"I view that as a positive because you'll be doing that too, so you won't be spending as much, and you'll get the same result, hopefully," he said.

Trump also signed a series of executive orders on Monday to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from the military, reinstate thousands of troops who were kicked out for refusing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic, and take aim at transgender troops.

Earlier on Monday, Pete Hegseth, who narrowly secured enough votes to become defence secretary, referred to the names of Confederate generals that were once used for two key bases during his remarks to reporters as he entered the Pentagon on his first full day on the job.

Trump signed the executive orders while flying back from Miami to Washington DC.

One of the executive orders signed by Trump said that expressing a "gender identity" different from an individual's sex at birth did not meet military standards.

While the order banned the use of "invented" pronouns in the military, it did not answer basic questions including whether transgender soldiers currently serving in the military would be allowed to stay and, if not, how they would be removed.

Trump's plans have been heavily criticised by advocacy groups, which say his actions would be illegal.

"President Trump has made clear that a key priority for his administration is driving transgender people back into the closet and out of public life altogether," Joshua Block, with the ACLU, said earlier on Monday.

Trump also signed an executive order that "mandated a process to develop an 'American Iron Dome'."

The short-range Iron Dome air defense system was built by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with US backing, and was built to intercept rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza towards Israel.

Trump's administration on Monday fired more than a dozen Justice Department lawyers who brought two criminal cases against him, an official said.

The officials were fired after Acting Attorney General James McHenry, a Trump appointee, concluded they "could not be trusted to faithfully implement the President's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting the President," a Justice Department official said.​

Evidently the Chinese are graduating three times as many people in STEM than the US annually for the last generation now. You can see its results today.

The entire tech sector in the US too is full of colored peepal bhai, mostly Chinese and Indians.

There is not much else left to say on this.

The US has to get along with China and eventually admit and accept that China's ascendancy in tech/ innovation is a reality.

 

[Saif]

Evidently the Chinese are graduating three times as many people in STEM than the US annually for the last generation now. You can see its results today.

The entire tech sector in the US too is full of colored peepal bhai, mostly Chinese and Indians.

There is not much else left to say on this.

The US has to get along with China and eventually admit and accept that China's ascendancy in tech/ innovation is a reality.

I concur with you.

 

[Saif]

China 'firmly opposes' new US tariffs, vows 'countermeasures'

Beijing would file a lawsuit at the WTO, arguing that "the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the United States seriously violates WTO rules".

en.prothomalo.com

China 'firmly opposes' new US tariffs, vows 'countermeasures'
AFP
Beijing
Published: 02 Feb 2025, 10: 18

In this file China`s president Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with US president Donald Trump before a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka on 29 June. Asian investors await for a US-China trade deal details.AFP

China said Sunday it "firmly opposes" new tariffs imposed on Beijing by US President Donald Trump, vowing to take "corresponding countermeasures to resolutely safeguard our own rights and interests".

Unveiling sweeping measures against major trade partners on Saturday, Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports on top of existing duties.

In a statement on Sunday, China's commerce ministry slammed Washington's "erroneous practices", saying Beijing was "strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it".

The ministry said Beijing would file a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization, arguing that "the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the United States seriously violates WTO rules".

It added that the duties were "not only unhelpful in solving the US's own problems, but also undermine normal economic and trade cooperation".

"China hopes that the United States will objectively and rationally view and deal with its own issues like fentanyl, rather than threatening other countries with tariffs at every turn," the ministry said.

It said Beijing "urges the US to correct its erroneous practices, meet China halfway, face up to its problems, have frank dialogues, strengthen cooperation and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect".

In a separate statement, China's foreign ministry said "there are no winners in a trade war or tariff war".

"The practice of imposing additional tariffs is not constructive and will inevitably affect and damage future bilateral cooperation on drug control," a ministry spokesperson said.​

 

[Saif]

China holds out hope last-minute deal can avert US trade war

1China’s new tariffs on US imports like oil, coal and cars are relatively modest in scale, suggesting that Beijing is hoping for a last-minute deal but also giving them the option to inflict more pain if needed, analysts say.

www.thedailystar.net

China holds out hope last-minute deal can avert US trade war

The aerial photo shows cars for export parked at a port in Lianyungang, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. Photo: AFP
1China's new tariffs on US imports like oil, coal and cars are relatively modest in scale, suggesting that Beijing is hoping for a last-minute deal but also giving them the option to inflict more pain if needed, analysts say.

China on Tuesday fired a return salvo in its escalating trade war with the United States, slapping fresh tariffs on everything from American crude oil to agricultural machinery.

The moves hit roughly $20 billion worth of US goods per year -- roughly 12 percent of total American imports into China, according to calculations by Capital Economics.

Over a third of that is energy: according to Beijing customs data, imports of oil, coal and LNG totalled more than $7 billion last year.

Beijing has also slapped fresh export controls on rare metals and chemicals including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, indium and molybdenum, used in everything from mining to phone screens.

China dominates global supply chains for rare metals.

The countermeasures came as a surprise to some -- analysts at UBS this week told AFP they had expected Beijing to keep its powder dry.

But they are a far cry from the 10 percent tariffs slapped on all Chinese imports by US President Donald Trump this week that will affect some $450 billion worth of goods.

"The measures are fairly modest, at least relative to US moves," Capital Economics's Julian Evans-Pritchard said.

They "have clearly been calibrated to try to send a message to the US (and domestic audiences) without inflicting too much damage," he added.

That restraint can in part be explained by China's reliance on many US imports for its industries and its longstanding economic woes at home, Agatha Kratz at the Rhodium Group told AFP.

"Given the current economic downturn, China cannot afford -- and does not want -- to impose excessive trade barriers," she said.

"China's economy is in a fragile state, and this limits its ability to act freely," she explained.

"Beijing cannot afford to take reckless actions, and I don't think it wants to."

Far from inflicting deep pain, analysts say Beijing's goal is to send a message to Washington: that China can and will retaliate to swingeing tariffs.

"These tariffs are structured to signal China's capacity to endure prolonged economic confrontation while forcing the US to deal with internal economic pressures," Mingzhi Jimmy Xu, an assistant professor at Peking University, to AFP.

And Beijing can do "serious damage" to the United States should it decide to, Shehzad Qazi from China Beige Book told AFP.

The US remains heavily reliant on China for critical minerals needed to produce electric vehicles, their batteries and other key industrial applications.

Washington has had a flavour of this. In December, Beijing banned exports of metals gallium, antimony and germanium, key components in semiconductors.

That it had chosen not to, analysts say, suggests Beijing is keen to leave the door open to negotiations with Washington that could see the tariffs reversed.

Trump on Monday indicated a call with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could be imminent, hinting that a similar volte-face could be in the works.

But he later rolled back that claim, saying he was in "no rush" to speak with the Chinese leader.

Both Mexico and Canada -- hit with 25 percent tariffs over the weekend -- succeeded in securing a 30-day stay in last-minute deals with the US.

Beijing may be hoping for the same kind of agreement -- likely tied to a further commitment to crack down on the trafficking of fentanyl and the ownership of social media app TikTok.

"The Chinese tariffs do not go into effect until five days from now, a long time in Trump world," Wendy Cutler, a former US trade official, said in a note.

But "the question is whether Trump will react in the same way to such threats" from China, Alicia Garcia Herrero at Natixis told AFP.

"If he doubles down, China will have a problem."​

 

[Lulldapull]

How can there be a trade war without over turning the whole apple cart?

Everything is made in China bhai! Who will fill up millions of those Walmarts and Targets and TJ Max's and Dollar Stores? How will 250 million Americans survive without cheap trinkets and gadgets and consumer goods?