China’s commerce surplus hits report excessive forward of Trump’s return

Good morning. In immediately’s e-newsletter:

• China’s commerce surplus has reached report ranges

• Air India tries to win again disgruntled prospects

• Hong Kong’s iconic “tea eating places”.

China’s commerce surplus with the remainder of the world hit a report excessive of practically $1 trillion in 2024, official knowledge confirmed yesterday, only a week earlier than Donald Trump returns to the White House with a promise to impose punitive tariffs on most nice financial rival of the United States.

China’s $992 billion commerce surplus, greater than a 3rd of which is with the United States, is predicted to gas additional tensions with Washington and different buying and selling companions, which have objected to the surge in Chinese exports.

Economists mentioned the figures benefited from the “entrance loading” of exports, as producers sought to ship items forward of an anticipated commerce battle with the incoming Trump administration.

Chinese producers, in the meantime, have boosted exports to offset stagnant home demand, with households nonetheless recovering from the three-year property collapse on this planet’s second-largest financial system. Read how Trump’s tariff threats may have an effect on these developments.

• Related: The Mexican authorities yesterday launched a plan to scale back the massive commerce deficit with China and entice funding, in an olive department to the longer term Trump administration.

• AI Race: The United States is imposing broad export controls on chips used for synthetic intelligence, in an effort to make it tougher for China and different adversaries to entry superior applied sciences with army purposes.

Here’s what else we’ll be keeping track of immediately:

• Economic knowledge: India releases wholesale value index inflation price knowledge month-to-month.

• India: Space expertise firm Pixxel is all set to launch the undertaking within the nation first private satellite network aboard a SpaceX rocket from California. (Reuters)

Join the FT in Davos as we offer dwell evaluation on the bottom on the World Economic Forum’s annual assembly subsequent week. Sign up here for updates.

Five extra vital tales

1. China is constructing a brand new class of cellular docks, which may strengthen its skill to land an invasion pressure on Taiwan. The six barge-like vessels may assist the People’s Liberation Army transport heavy army tools corresponding to tanks and artillery throughout mudflats or seawalls onto strong floor. Satellite pictures present the brand new cellular docks underneath building.

2. EU shipyards are repairing Russian Ice-class oil tankers and providing them dry dock amenities, permitting Moscow to proceed shifting gasoline by the Arctic regardless of Western sanctions on its power sector. Without upkeep work, Russia’s Yamal LNG plant would wrestle to entry essential markets through the winter, when gasoline costs within the Northern Hemisphere are at their highest. This is why these actions aren’t sanctioned.

3. US-led mediators despatched closing draft of ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas after a “decisive breakthrough” in talks on a deal to finish the battle in Gaza and safe the discharge of hostages. People acquainted with the matter mentioned this left the fighters nearer than that they had been in latest months to ending the battle. “The subsequent 24 hours shall be essential,” one diplomat mentioned.

4. Cleveland-Cliffs and Nucor will launch a joint bid to amass US Steel simply weeks after US President Joe Biden blocked Japan’s Nippon Steel’s $15 billion takeover of the Pennsylvania-based group, folks acquainted with the matter mentioned. Cleveland-Cliffs plans to supply lower than $40 a share to purchase the corporate, considerably beneath the $55 a share that Nippon Steel agreed to pay final yr.

5. Yesterday Los Angeles was braced for near-“hurricane-force” winds, which meteorologists say may gas the devastating wildfires which overwhelmed the second largest metropolis within the United States. As firefighters struggled to include the lethal fires that continued to rage, the National Weather Service warned that winds may create “explosive hearth development.”

In-depth information

Air India’s chief govt has hailed the airline’s progress in an bold turnaround underneath the Tata Group’s management, acknowledging the problem of restoring the fame of the previous state-owned nationwide airline that Indians like to complain about. “There is a blessing and a curse in being the nationwide airline,” mentioned Campbell Wilson, the Singapore Airlines veteran employed after Tata purchased Air India in a $2.4 billion deal in 2022. Here’s how Air India is making an attempt to win again prospects.

Premium FT subscribers can join Here for India Business Briefing, the must-read e-newsletter for Indian enterprise and politics professionals. My colleague Veena Venugopal’s unique evaluation shall be delivered to your inbox each Tuesday and Friday.

We are additionally studying. . .

• An outside-the-box thought for China and Trump: Washington and Beijing ought to conduct joint intervention on the renminbi, writes Mark Sobel, a former US Treasury official.

• Zuckerberg’s cowardice: The man liable for the social media platforms utilized by billions of individuals ought to present some ethical braveness, writes Jemima Kelly.

• Where incumbents gained: The international riot in opposition to these in energy doesn’t prolong to creating democracies like India and Indonesia, writes Ruchir Sharma.

Chart of the day

Chinese company income are anticipated to indicate a 3rd consecutive yr of decline in 2024, with a development anticipated to proceed this yr as deflationary pressures weigh on the world’s second-largest financial system.

Take a break from the information. . .

Few issues symbolize Hong Kong’s fusion of flavors greater than its icon cha chaan teng – or “tea eating places” – serving a mixture of Western imports alongside Chinese dishes and native innovations. Hong Konger Jason Chau has shared a few of his favorites as a part of FT Globetrotter’s Hong Kong information.