China hits again towards Trump’s tariffs

Good morning. In immediately’s publication:

• China retaliates towards Trump’s tariffs

• Microsoft poaches DeepMind employees behind AI podcast characteristic

• Bangladesh rewrites its previous

Beijing has retaliated towards Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports from China with duties of its personal however restricted their scope in a doable try and keep away from a full-blown commerce conflict.

China will impose tariffs of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent on US liquefied pure fuel, coal, crude oil and farm tools. Beijing will even impose tariffs on some automotive imports from the US and extra export controls on 5 uncommon metals. The measures will take impact on February 10.

China’s new tariffs goal about $14bn of products, Citigroup analysts stated — lower than 10 per cent of whole imports from the US in 2023, the final yr for which there was full knowledge.

China additionally introduced yesterday it had revived antitrust investigations into US tech giants Google and Nvidia, whereas contemplating a brand new probe towards Intel.

The investigations “may be part of the retaliatory measures”, made by Beijing in response to Trump’s new tariffs towards the nation, stated Liu Xu, a researcher on the Nationwide Technique Institute of Tsinghua College. Xu added that the probes might be used as a software in commerce negotiations. Right here’s what else we learn about China’s strikes.

• Extra on Trump’s tariffs: The US president’s crackdown on tariff-free entry for small items might threaten the enterprise fashions of Chinese language ecommerce teams Shein and Temu whereas benefiting Amazon, analysts stated.

For extra protection of worldwide commerce, join Alan Beattie’s weekly Commerce Secrets and techniques publication right here should you’re a premium subscriber, or improve your subscription. Right here’s what else we’re holding tabs on immediately:

• Financial knowledge: South Korea and Philippines report January inflation knowledge. Indonesia publishes fourth-quarter GDP.

• Outcomes: Toyota, Nomura, Novo Nordisk, Uber and Disney report earnings.

• China: Monetary markets reopen after the lunar new yr vacation.

• Delhi state legislature elections: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata occasion is hoping to recapture the capital metropolis, which it has not received for over 27 years. (Related Press)

Have questions concerning the Modi authorities’s plans to reinvigorate the Indian economic system? Ship them to us and we’ll reply them in a particular weekend version of the publication. Hit reply or electronic mail firstft@ft.com.

5 extra prime tales

1. Microsoft’s synthetic intelligence head Mustafa Suleyman has poached his former colleagues at Google DeepMind who constructed its widespread podcast-generating characteristic, because the rival corporations race to construct profitable functions from the cutting-edge know-how. The characteristic, “Audio Overviews”, permits customers to remodel textual content into audio that has the type of an attractive conversational podcast.

2. FBI brokers are suing the Trump administration to forestall it from publicly naming employees concerned in an investigation into the January 6 Capitol assault in 2021 amid an intensifying crackdown towards the president’s perceived enemies. They allege {that a} justice division try and establish these concerned within the probes risked placing them and their households in “immediate danger of retribution”.

3. Alphabet’s revenues undershot estimates within the fourth quarter because the search big’s cloud enterprise grew slower than anticipated. The Google dad or mum additionally revved up its spending on knowledge centres because it competes with Silicon Valley rivals within the synthetic intelligence race.

4. Apollo International Administration chief govt Marc Rowan says a wave of partnerships between different and large asset managers will shake up Wall Avenue. He stated corporations reminiscent of Apollo might create co-branded funding funds or “massive managed accounts” with conventional asset managers that may widen buyers’ possession of unlisted belongings.

5. Unique: Citigroup will proceed to permit most workers to work remotely at the least two days per week in a transfer that places it out of step with some rivals and the Trump administration. Right here’s why chief govt Jane Fraser described versatile in-office work necessities as a aggressive benefit.

Information in-depth

Barely half a yr after Bangladesh’s student-led revolution overthrew Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, the interim authorities led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is rewriting the nation’s official historical past. College textbooks printed by his authorities have revised the nation’s independence narrative and challenged the cult of personalty that was constructed round Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the late father of Sheikh Hasina. However Yunus’s workforce faces a spread of obstacles on this effort to remake the nation.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• ‘Fair’ algorithms: Merely including a human assessment course of to automated methods doesn’t make difficult trade-offs disappear, writes Sarah O’Connor.

• The Huge Learn: Have America’s industrial giants misplaced their means by measuring success solely in monetary phrases?

• Market Perception: Shifts within the world financial and monetary order are making the idea of the “global south” much less efficient, writes Mohamed El-Erian.

Chart of the day

Chinese language producers say they’ll velocity up efforts to maneuver manufacturing to different nations to avoid US tariffs, after Donald Trump introduced a brand new commerce offensive towards Beijing. Chinese language corporations have already been diversifying their commerce in recent times, and China’s share of US imports has fallen markedly since Trump launched tariffs in his first time period in workplace.

Take a break from the information . . . 

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