The United States should immediately lift all tariffs on Chinese goods, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday, ahead of an announcement by the Biden administration on expected hikes in levies on Chinese-made items, including electric vehicles.

In the first half of 2024, bilateral trade between Vietnam and China approached the US$100 billion mark, with Vietnam exporting US$27.8 billion worth of goods to China, a 5.3 percent increase from the previous year.

With Chinese brands rapidly expanding in the Vietnamese market, experts are calling for protective policies to safeguard local manufacturers and ensure the country’s long-term industrial growth.

In a rational world, Europe’s climate-conscious representatives would oppose surcharges that make clean tech, like electric vehicles (EVs) regardless of their origin, more costly. But that’s not the case: environmentalists warn that relying on Chinese imports will undermine a key promise of the European Green Deal, namely economic momentum and high-wage jobs within the bloc. Paul Hockenos reports.

China’s electric vehicle (EV) sector is booming, so much so that it helped drive the country to the top of the world’s list of automobile exporters in 2023, taking over from Japan, the previous leader. Recent data also suggests that China is experiencing a whopping 28-percent year-on-year growth in EV sales, easily outpacing all other nations, and that six out of every ten EVs sold around the world are manufactured in China. For many, these are exceptional feats, not only in terms of the sheer commanding numbers of EVs that China is exporting but also for the positive implications that so many EVs on the roads across the world will have for greening the planet. That said, not everyone has warmed to China’s global EV-market dominance.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has asked the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to make practical proposals for infrastructure, construction, transport, and agricultural ties as a mean of realizing the high-level agreements between the two Parties and nations.

Russia’s recent announcement that it plans to ramp up pork exports to China, an EU-dominated sector, represents a bold strategic move. It is also the latest installment in the ongoing trade tensions between Europe and China.

Positive dialogue and interaction is seen as necessary between the US and China on finance, trade and economics, instead of resorting to tariffs, said one observer.

China’s allowance of Vietnam's frozen durian, fresh coconut and crocodile exports is expected to brighten up the outlook of exports to the country.