One of the purposes of Trump’s trade war is convincing US companies to leave China. But they are not yet ready to move, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, in the Channel News Asia. And when they move, they might before countries like Vietnam over the US, he adds.Read More →

China routinely dismisses accusations it is copying the behavior of former colonial powers in Africa, but is missing the point, says journalist Howard French, author of China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, at the Sydney Morning Herald.Read More →

Tariffs in the ongoing trade war are taxes, so it is unavoidable consumer prices will go up, says financial analyst Victor Shih, author of Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation, at The Point. Some increases might be taken by the distributors, and consumers are not yet worried because the US economy is now doing very well, Shih says. But that could change in the months to come when the effects of the trade war kick in.Read More →

Devaluating the Chinese Yuan can be an attractive, but also dangerous way for China to deal with the effect of the ongoing trade war, says financial and political analyst Victor Shih, author of Factions and Finance in China: Elite Conflict and Inflation to Reuters. ” It is likely that corruption is returning, which will undermine Chinese capital control measures.”Read More →

The unicorn Bytedance is worth US$750 billion, an international big hit on news distribution, exploiting AI in a sensational way, but hardly known to many. China veteran Ashley Dudarenok explains why is not owned by Alibaba, Tencent but independent on the market, and making a blast.Read More →

For investors the prospects for North-Korea are similar to China in 1978, says superinvestor Jim Rogers, author of Street Smarts: Adventures on the Road and in the Markets,  according to the Korean medium Hankyoreh. “If North Korea introduces reforms and openness, it will achieve rapid economic growth in the double digits or higher.”Read More →

Tencent watcher Matthew Brennan has an in-depth look at how the recent reorganization of the internet giant reflects on the internet in China, especially how the company that became big through WeChat and B2C moves towards a more industrial approach, he writes on his weblog at China Channel.Read More →

The new trade agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada (USMCA)  excluded possible free-trade agreements between the three with China. Trump has its hands free to focus his trade war on China, says economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®, at the South China Morning Post. Read More →

The trade war between the US and China has up to now mainly hit headlines, nervous traders and heated political debates, but there is no doubt consumers will feel the burnt too, says financial analyst Sara Hsu to Reuters. Moving away from China is mostly not an option, she says. “It can take up to five years to move from China to another country.”Read More →