official data shows steady growth in China's goods trade during the first five months.
UNESCO aspirated is calling for stronger global cooperation and highlights China's growing leadership in ocean governance.
Tensions rise in Los Angeles as thousands of protesters tick to the streets after Washington's China's goo's trade continued to grow in the first five months of the year.
According to customs authorities, foreign trade totaled nearly 18 trillion yuan, or around 2 .5 trillion U .S. dollars, a 2 .5 percent rise compared to the same period last year.
The number of foreign -invested enterprises engaged in import and export activity has surpassed 73 ,000, the highest for the same period in five years.
Officials say the data highlights China's ongoing appeal as a stable, secure and promising environment for international investors, despite a challenging global economic landscape.
So what are the key drivers behind this growth and what does it signal about the Chinese economy and its engagement with the world?
To help us understand the broader implications, we are joined now by Dr. Yao Xujie, Chongkong professor of economics at Chongqing University.
Professor, let's start with the headline figure.
China's total imports and exports grew by 2 .5 % year on year in the first 5 months.
What do you see as the main factors behind the resilience of China's exports during this period?
I'm fully pleased to see the first 5 -month trade figures, 2 .5%, it's very encouraging Because if you look at the figures in January and February, it was in the negative territory and 2 .5 % is now higher than the first three months and the first four months.
So this means that the international trade is actually increasing rather than decreasing as people may expect because of the U .S. sino -trade war is ongoing.
I think there are a number of factors that we can see that explain the encouraging statistical figures.
First of all, China is able to diversify international trade away from the United States, to EU, to ASEAN and to the below and low countries in particular.
And secondly, the Chinese export quality appear to have increasing gradually because the put of high quality manufacturing goods is increasing, and also the logistic support is very strong.
The platform in Chinese free trade drone and also the key cities, they are proving to be very important for supporting China's trade resilience.
And the third factor, I think, is the private sector and also to some extent the processing trade has been picking up.
So this kinds of diversification in terms of the trade structure, trade destination changes and also the technological upgrading, proving that China's you know trade have a really strong international resilience in competitiveness.
In terms of trade patterns, we've seen significant growth in China's trade with ASEAN and the European Union.
Meanwhile, trade with the Belt and Road partner countries was up 4 .2 per cent.
So how do you interpret this shifts in China's trade structure?
Yeah I think it's very interesting to note, you know, the trade with the belt and road countries is increasingly more important and the trade growth with the belt and road countries are growing faster than the average growth in the global level.
And secondly, the ASEAN -EU and ASEAN, partly because of the recovery of the EU country and partly because of the strong economy base and dynamism, and also the potential for China's export to the ASEAN 10 -nation state.
So this means that China, after so many years of regional co -operations, have proved to be fairly fruitful at a time when China needs these kinds of diversification and also needs to increase the resilience, despite the external environment which is highly complicated, particularly some countries such as the United States, is using Protestantism and Unilateralism to slow down the bilateral trade between not only China and the United States, but also with other parts of the world.
In this particular background, I think it's really important for China to enhance regional cooperation and also the big initiative such as the Belt and Road, which provided a very good platforming mechanism for China's export and import.
About the product structure, Professor, mechanical and electrical products made up around 60 % of exports, notably exports of data processing equipment, integrated circuits, and automobiles showed strong growth.
How would you assess the global competitiveness of China's manufacturing sector today based on these figures?
If we look at the export structure of manufacturing goods, data processing and electrical circuits, Those are high -value and high -tech products.
This means that China's export is not only very good in terms of the volume and also the volume increase, but also is the structural shift to what the high technological sector, including the new energy vehicles, is now penetrating into many parts of the world and also some other products such as a new energy battery and so on.
This is very encouraging because China is not only moving a way to the low tech manufacturing to the middle and high tech manufacturing, but also it seems like China in some special areas it proved to be playing a very dominant and increasingly dominant position in the international trade system.
At the enterprise level, private firms now account for over 57 % of China's total trade, making them the driving force behind the country's foreign trade sector.
So what does this rising share in private sector activity say about the dynamism and vitality of the Chinese economy?
The private sector is the backbone of the Chinese economy and this proved to be the so -called Chinese socialist market system is now working very well.
The socialist market system has two special features.
One is the relationship between the government and the market, and the second is the State -run and the private enterprises.
The State -run is focusing on the strategic sectors, but the private sector is very vibrant in terms of providing employment, and also technological innovation, and the flexibility of the private sector is now fully encouraged by government policy.
You can see lots of policy are encouraging the private sector to become more and more important in the Chinese economy system.
And this is exactly reflected in the structural shift of the total trade volume, increasing proportion of trade is now explained by the private sector and it is getting stronger over time.
So it is really encouraging in terms of building up only the private sector but also to increase China's rigelian to the external shock that we are talking about nowadays.
Then let's also talk about trade models, processing trade expanded by over 6 % while bounded logistics exports surged by about 16%.
What does this say about China's ongoing innovation in foreign trade models, and what role are platforms like free trade zones and cross -border e -commerce playing in transforming and upgrading China's trade?
Yeah, the bonding logistics is a really good example.
It grows by 16%, which is remarkably higher than the national average, but the underlying factors of the binding logistics is the digital technologies.
I think the digital technology is helping China to move the export, by reducing the export cost, the transportation information cost through the digitalization and through the so -called production services, which is a project and building into the merchandise trade system.
Now, the platform that you mentioned about is because China is a very vast country, and they have so many capacity and differences between regions and locations, especially the cities.
So by building the so -called free trade zone in the city, the local government in particular, they are able to focus their effort in building up the trade system regulations and convenience of trade products moving across the border, which is a very useful way to facilitate international trade by reducing the friction of movement of goods and services, in particular to reduce the trade cost so that China's export would enjoy a better comparative advantage in the international market.
Professor, finally zooming out to the global picture, with the world economy facing multiple challenges, how does the resilience of China's foreign trade, you know, create new market opportunities for developing countries?
China, nowadays is the biggest trading economy.
To some extent it is bigger than even the United States and because China is so big and the Chinese demand and supply is so complex and it provides a lot of complementarity and also lots of potential for other countries for international trade activities.
So, the stability and resilience and also the ability of the Chinese export market to expand, it provide not only a fairly stable market, but also a rising opportunity for many foreign countries, especially the country that we discuss about along the bail and low initiative.
Most of them are developing countries, Most of them require a very stable and resilient foreign trade market for boosting their economic development and international trade.
China's stability and resilience is very important.
It provides a very solid foundation or a steady anchor of foreign trade at the global level.
These kinds of stability and resilience is particularly important for the developing countries who are desperate to have a big trading partner.
By the way, China is not the biggest trading partners for over 140 countries in the world, nearly 200 countries at the global level.
So China's role is very important in this process.
And I hope that in the future that people get more and more interconnected with China, either from the global level or multilateral level corporations in terms of international trading and cross -border investment.
Thanks, Professor, for those valuable insights.
That was Dr. Yaxu Jie, Chongkong professor of economics at Chongqing University.
Coming up, UNESCO expert is calling for stronger global cooperation and highlights China's growing leadership in ocean governance.
This is Rheu today.
Stay with us. Hello, my name is Alessandro Gollombievz Teixeira.
I'm a professor of Public Policy and Management at Tinghua University, Beijing.
I am a great listener of The Wall today.
In my opinion, The Wall today is one of the best China radio programs. In The Wall today we can get the best news and analysis in what is happening now in the world.
So please, Come to join us.
This is Road Today.
A senior UNESCO marine expert is calling for stronger global cooperation to tackle mounting challenges in ocean governance, and highlights China's growing leadership in advancing international marine research and solutions.
Julian Barbier, head of marine policy at UNESCO's Intergovernmental Ocean Graphics Commission says deeper international scientific collaboration is urgently needed to better protect marine ecosystems. I have to say that China is one of the leading countries in terms of providing contribution to the UN decade.
We have several international programs led by China, for example, looking at the deep sea ecology of the ocean, which is looking at also the forecasting, using better information to help forecast potential hazards like typhoons, like storm surges.
And making that technology actually available to other countries, which is very encouraging, particularly in the Global South.
Barbieri also outlined key priorities for the UN Ocean Conference which takes place in Nice, France.
This year's World Ocean Day was marked on Sunday, with the International Conference continuing through this Friday.
So to delve into this and more, Let's have Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing -based NGO.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
To start us off, how do you assess China's concrete contributions to global ocean governance?
What has earned it this growing international recognition?
Yeah, first and foremost, I think as the UNESCO expert put it, China's in recent years, you you know, have been continued to provide its support, to actively participate and make all the contributions to the global ocean environment governance.
And I think, you know, one of the key differences here in China is, you know, China is trying to walk the walk, you know, not just setting all this up, all the target but make real efforts to try to, to mitigate the climate impact, cut pollution emission, and conduct the conservation along its coastal regions.
And in the meantime, China is also trying to enhance its own capacity of monitoring and forecast so as to adapt to a changing global ocean environment.
And this capacity is very much needed in many other developing countries.
So that's why the UNESCO experts, in China by sharing all this capacity with the global south, it has made a major contribution to become a global leader in the ocean governance.
We know the road to effective governance remains complex and challenging, So what would you say are the biggest challenges currently facing global ocean governance and how does China's approach compare to that of other major players?
The global ocean governance and conservation is really facing a whole series of challenges.
First and foremost, I think it's about the climate change impact.
Ocean is the biggest regulator and biggest tool to balance our global climate.
But unfortunately through absorbing of nearly 90 percent of the excess heat since 1970s, the ocean have suffered from not just the rising temperature, ocean temperature in recent years have the temperature rise have accelerated, and in the meantime, the pH has actually dropped, meaning that it's demonstrating a rising of its acidity level.
And all this rising temperature have caused the rising sea level, which exposed hundreds of millions of coastal residents to risk.
And in the meantime, it's also the rising temperature plus the acidity of the ocean, have also made impact on the biodiversity which already suffered so badly through all these years of overfishing and pollution.
And pollution used to have conventional pollutions to all this waste water and dump off the garbage into the sea.
And now, you know, the new form of pollution such as microplastics also causing all these problems. Speaking of this year's UN Ocean Conference, what are the main goals of this year's event and what specific actions or initiatives has China undertaken, you know, to help achieve those goals?
Yeah, the main goals of this year's UN Ocean Conference, there are several major targets, but the most important is to try to ratify and implement the so -called BBNG agreement.
that it is the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement.
And the target is to secure 60 ratifications by September to enforce to ensure that it – that this biodiversity agreement on the high seas conservation can come into effect.
And along with that, the so -called 30x30 Marine protection target, there's also efforts to try to achieve that.
Of course, harmful – eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies and strengthen science and equity in the governance, also part of the target.
And what China has been doing, as I mentioned, China's trying to really trying to walk the walk.
And China has imposed a 10 year moratorium on Yangtze River fishing.
And also, every year it conducts a ban on this along this fishing ban, along its coast. All this help just to restore ocean biodiversity.
In the meantime China is making massive efforts to try to clean up the sea and in the meantime cut the pollution, transport, transferred from all these rivers and into the sea.
And China's also spared no efforts to try to restore very, very important functions of very important ecosystems such as the coral reef and all the other very important ecosystems. So these are very concrete measures taken by China, which actually set good models for were to see that actually all this target you know if we can set ambitious target there's a there's a way to do it so it's not just about why it's about also about how.
Speaking of ambitious targets, we know sustainability also has a strong domestic component.
Last year China's ocean economy surpassed 10 trillion yuan for the first time And in the first three months of this year, it continued that momentum with a 5 .7 % year -on -year increase.
So, what are the emerging industries in China driving this growth?
The ocean economy is really growing at a mind -boggling rate.
And one of the fastest growth sector growing sector is the ocean electricity, marine electricity industry which increased by 14 .7 percent year on year.
And offshore wind is about the fastest. Last year the power electricity generation of offshore wind grew by nearly 30 percent.
And, other sectors including the including some of the marine shipping and offshore engineering equipment manufacturing, marine tourism, marine tourism also growing very fast. So, this are the leading sectors that contributed to the rapid development.
Many thanks to Mr. Ma for your in -depth perspective.
That was my dream director of the Institute of Public and Environment Affairs, a Beijing -based NGO you're listening to Wrote today.
We'll be back after a short break.
You've been listening to World Today with Mika Anna in Beijing.
Tensions in Los Angeles have escalated as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to U .S. President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard. The protesters clashed with National Guard troops in the city during the demonstration against immigration rates sweeping across California.
Reports saying National Guard soldiers and federal agents fired tear gas and smoked grenades at the crowd.
Some protesters and journalists were hit during the confrontation.
Los Angeles Police Department chief Jim McDonald condemned the acts of vandalism.
In recent days, many protests across the city have been peaceful, and we thank the community for expressing their views and their frustration in a responsible manner.
However, when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence, especially violence directed at innocent people, law enforcement officers and others, we must respond firmly.
An act of violence, whether toward officers, demonstrators of the public, will be met with swift and lawful action.
Our goal is to maintain order without escalating conflict and to protect everybody's right to safety.
So for more on this, Zhao Ying joins us in the studio.
Thanks for joining us, Jia.
Hi. What sparked the protest in Los Angeles and how have they evolved over the past few days?
Well, the protests started on Friday after federal immigration agents, many dressed in camouflage, launched sweeping raids in the city's Garbon district.
The enforcement action targeted people suspected of being undocumented immigrants, and it caused panic among workers and residents.
The aggressive presence of federal agents ignited spontaneous protests, with demonstrators chanting, throwing eggs, and clashing with law enforcement.
Officers responded with pepper spray and crowd -control munitions.
And by Saturday, the protests had grown in size and intensity, expressed beyond downtown to places like Paramount, Paramount, which is a working -class majority -Lantino city about 15 miles south, and Paramount saw some of the most volatile confrontations.
More than 100 people were arrested on Friday and at least 20 more on Saturday, and federal officials later confirmed that eight people in Paramount were charged with obstruction — including two minors who have later been released from custody.
And by Sunday morning, the streets of Los Angeles were briefly quiet as the first National Guard troops arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown where many detained protesters were being held.
But tensions quickly re -ignited and by the afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside the detention center and were met by a line of federal law enforcement officials in riot gear.
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement fired tear gas into the crowd and National Guard troops were also gathered in Paramount, near a Home Depot where protesters had clashed with agents on Saturday.
So what we are seeing now is that what began as a localized protest against the immigration race has now escalated into a broader confrontation between local communities and federal power.
Reporters say President Trump ordered National Guard troops into LA without the governor's request. So how unusual is this move?
Well, it is highly unusual and it is legally contentious because normally national guard troops are deployed within a state at the request of the state's governor.
That reflects the principle of federalism in the U .S. where states control their own guard units unless the federal government explicitly takes command.
But in this case, President Trump kind of bypassed California Gov.
Gavin Newsom entirely and unilaterally sent guard troops into Los Angeles without a formal request and overvocal objections from state officials.
Historically, federalizing the National Guard without state consent has happened only in moments of profound national crisis.
One famous example is the Alabama in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement, when Governor George Wallace backed out of a promise to protect civil rights butchers led by Martin Luther King journeying from Selma to Montgomery, and President Lyndon Johnson overrode him, and Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard to ensure the martyr's safety and sent a clear signal that the federal government would not allow state leaders to undermine constitutional rights.
But Donald Trump's use of this power doesn't follow that kind of clear -cut constitutional cause.
There's no court order, no declared emergency by state officials, and no broad consensus that local authorities have lost control.
And instead, critics say this looks like a political show of force aimed at immigration enforcement, and the move deepens the long -standing tensions between California and the Trump administration and may test the legal boundaries of federal intervention and it could also trigger lawsuits over the scope of presidential authority and the limits of states' rights, much as Wallace and Johnson once did, but under a very different moral and legal context." But Trump has justified sending the National Guard by claiming Los Angeles is being, in his words, invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals.
So how have local leaders and protesters been responding to this narrative?
They have pushed back hard against Trump's characterization of the situation in Los Angeles.
And they argued that the president's framing, like describing the protests as an invasion by illegal aliens and criminals, Because that is not only inflammatory but also misleading and dangerously dehumanizing.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the deployment of federal troops a political stunt and she warned that Trump was trying to provoke chaos rather than restore order.
She noted that city authorities had already been managing the situation and accused the administration of militarizing a humanitarian crisis.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed those concerns and condemned the unilateral troop deployment as a gross abuse of power designed to intimidate immigrant communities and stoke national division, and accused the Trump administration of a serious breach of state sovereignty.
The protesters on the ground have also rejected Trump's language, like many demonstrators including community activists and immigrant rights groups, say that they are just peacefully opposing federal immigration rights that they view as unjust and racially targeted, and their signs and chants have emphasized solidarity, dignity and resistance to the criminalizing labels imposed by Washington.
Immigration advocates have pointed out that the neighborhood targeted by recent raids are home to many long -established immigrant families and laborers not the violent mobs described in the Trump's statements.
And they argue that the real crisis is not lawlessness but the trauma and fear inflicted by the sudden federal crackdowns.
This confrontation seems to reflect the deep retentions between California and the Trump administration.
So how does this situation tie into broader federal -state clashes over immigration and law enforcement?
This is indeed part of a much longer and intensifying standoff between California and the Trump administration.
Since Trump's first term, California has positioned itself as a key counterweight to his immigration agenda.
The state declared itself a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, and it passed laws to limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents and it sued the administration multiple times over issues like border wall funding, DACA protections, and ICE raids.
The Trump administration, in turn, has targeted California for wider views as obstruction, like in 2018, then -Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued the state over three sanctuary laws.
Trump and Sall rapidly singled out California leaders, claiming they were enabling crime and undermining national security.
And federal immigration authorities have carried out high profile raids in California cities, often without local coordination.
And DHS has publicly threatened to withhold funding from non -compliant jurisdictions.
So what we're seeing now in Los Angeles is like a dramatic escalation of that ongoing power struggle.
It raises constitutional questions about the federal government's ability to overwrite state and local authorities in domestic law enforcement matters, especially when the state itself believes that presence is politically motivated or counterproductive.
But for many Californians, this isn't just a policy disagreement.
It is more like a clash of worldviews because California's political leaders framed the state as a place of inclusion and legal protection for immigrants.
But the Trump administration, by contrast, has used aggressive enforcement and militarized rhetoric to assert federal supremacy and portray California as defiant and lawless.
So it is like a combination of years of legal and ideological battles between a progressive state and a federal government that has repeatedly sought to challenge its authority.
We'll continue to follow this closely.
That was my colleague Zhao Ying.
Coming up, The European Central Bank lowers rates for the eighth time as trade tensions threaten growth.
This is ROG today. We'll be back.
The European Central Bank has delivered a widely anticipated 25 business point rate cut, lowering its deposit facility rate to two percent.
This is the ECB's eighth interest rate cut in 13 months as eurozone inflation was 1 .9 % in May below the ECB's 2 % target.
The ECB said the European Union needed to reduce its borrowing costs as it railed from the damaged cost by the US trade war.
With defense spending increases and a structural labor market change looming, the Governing Council emphasized future decisions will remain data -dependent, it, leaving the door open for a potential summer pause in the easing cycle.
So for more on this, my colleague Zhang Yang spoke with Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University.
So first, Yan, why has the ECB cut the interest rates again and what signal is the central bank sending?
Well, this is the eighth time that they cut the interest rate and now the policy rate is as low as 2 percent.
And you compare that to the UK, it's 4 .5%, and the U .S. is 4 .25 % to 4 .5%.
So this is relatively low interest rate.
The reason is because on the one hand the inflation rate has dropped down.
The Eurozone's inflation rate was reduced to 1 .9 % in May.
It was forecasted to continue to go down to about 1 .6 % next year in 2026.
So, the relatively low inflation rate, by the way, largely thanks to both the energy costs that's been declining due to the OPEC increasing production, but also due to the Euro strength that has been appreciating more than 10 percent and the dollar this year, so this helped to reduce the inflation rate at home, and that leaves more room for the ECB to cut.
On the other hand as you just mentioned, even though their first quarter growth has revised upwards to 0 .6 percent, but the whole year forecast is still only 0 .9 percent by the ECB.
So it's still a relatively sluggish growth rate.
And so I think it makes sense for the ECB to cut rates in order to stimulate demand, especially when you have the very uncertain global trading environment that the ECB has been warning about.
Hmm, and the ECB's 25 basis points cut comes at a critical time.
So what are the key issues that Eurozone is facing right now, do you think?
Well, I think there are two major I would say headwinds.
One is that there is the escalation in about just past week between Russia and Ukraine.
The war seemed to be escalating and no sign that they will really come to a quick ceasefire or even you know, stop the war.
So I think that is still a geopolitical uncertainty that is hovering around the European economies.
And then the second one, of course, is the U .S.'s tariff rate, tariff war.
Even though now, you know, the two parts, the U .S. and EU, are in the so -called 90 -day truce.
But by July, if the deal is not made, then the U .S. is going to impose 20 percent universal tariff rate on EU.
On top of that there are still the automotive and automobile parts tariffs and also 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum.
So, all of these tariffs are going to affect the European economies negatively, because EU does rely on the U .S. market, about 20 percent of their exports going to the United States.
So, if in the new deal, no deal scenario this is going to shed about 0 .3 % of the EU's GDP.
So again, giving that they only estimate about 0 .9 % growth, this 0 .3 % negative impact is going to be significant.
So I think those two are really the headwinds and not to mention I think the European economies have been stagnating and struggling with some structural issues, facing the two major economies, Germany and France.
So I think, it is a critical time, as you just said, for the ECB and individual governments to really get their policies in place to stimulate their economy.
And how severe is a slowdown in the eurozone economic growth especially in France and Germany?
And what does this rate cut mean for the euro's value and the inflation outlook across Europe?
Well I think this is a great question I think overall you know tariff is going to have negative impact on European economies.
And as I mentioned, the ECB and others have estimated, you know, this is going to reduce the Eurozone economy's growth, depending on the different estimates.
Some believe this is going to reduce the growth rate by 0 .3 percent.
But for countries like Germany, this contraction of the GDP due to the tariff could be as much as 0 .4 percent, just given how much they rely on export to the United States, not only automobiles but also steel.
So depending on the different economies, you know, the impacts could be relatively large.
Ireland for example also is a big exporter of pharmaceutical products to the United States.
And so if Donald Trump is going to wage new tariff on pharmaceutical products, which he hinted he will, then again the impacts will be large.
So at this point I think it's still hard to tell, but I think unless the ECB and also the individual member governments are using their policy to offset that, then this will be a relatively significant impact on the economy.
And I think inflation could also be having a higher risk, because the global supply chain would have to absorb the cost of the higher US tariff.
And so, that means, it is possible for inflation to rise due to these kinds of tariff disruption of the supply chain.
And at the end of May, the ECB had Christine Lagarde suggest that the euro could rival the U .S. dollar if the eurozone strengthen its financial and security frameworks.
So why did she emphasize this now?
I think Lagarde probably see the opportunity at this point for EU to strengthen the role of the euro.
As I just mentioned, the euro value has strengthened against the US dollar by over 10 % this year so far.
And that's largely because, again, Donald Trump's tariff war, and also other, sort of, potential policy moves that made the rest of the world worried about the dollar status and also the dollar value.
As you remember, once Donald Trump announced so -called Liberation Day tariff, the US dollar has been weakening over time.
And even if now with a pause, the dollar is still relatively weaker than before the Liberation Day tariff hike.
So what that means is there are some concerns about the US dollar, whether or not it's going to continue to be a reserve currency, and whether or not the dollar assets will continue to be the haven currency.
And so, I think that gives the opportunity for EU and for European economies' financial assets to be more favorable by international investors.
Not only because the U .S. is weakened, but also because countries like Germany and France have been ratcheting up their plan to increase more on fiscal spending on military and civilian expenditures.
So, think all of these just made investors feel that you know maybe euro and euro assets would be a substitute more or less for the US assets and so that's I think what prompt her to say we need to get our acts together so then we'll be able to you know strengthen the role of euro in the global financial architecture and earlier you mentioned the US 50 steel and aluminum import tariffs actually took effect recently and this are the highest the US steel and aluminum tariff since the 1930s.
So how are the trading partners, especially the EU responding or preparing to respond to it?
Right, so I think the general director of the European Steel Association basically said that if this 50 % tariff is being imposed, that essentially mean the 3 .8 million tons of the EU steel exports through the U .S., would be under, I quote, a de -fetal import ban, end of the quote.
So basically, you know, this tariff is so hefty that EU would not be able to export their steel to the United States.
And worse steel, they worry that because of the high tariffs rate from the United States, then many other countries that are used to export the steel to the United States would have to find a different destination.
And that means it's likely that they're going to divert their export of steel into the EU markets.
And so that's what they worried about that by some estimate, there could be 27 million tons that could be diverted from the U .S. market to the European market instead.
And so that's what they worried.
You know, a country like Germany, who is the Europeans' largest steel producing country and they made up about 6 % of the US's total imports of steel last year, countryside Germany would then be particularly hit by dis -tariffs.
And I think because of steel is such an important input in many of the industrial outputs.
And so with all these uncertainty about the steel industry, would also affect other industries.
So for example, the production of heavy machinery, which relies heavily on the steel, it has dropped by six percent in April and that is due to this tariff and the heightened uncertainty so the impacts could be relatively significant.
That was Yanliang, a professor of economics at Willamette University speaking with our Zhang Yang.
Coming up China's tourism industry is on track for a major rebound.
This is Road Today, stay tuned.
Hello I am Dr. Digby James Ren, a political analyst and international relations scholar specializing in China area studies world today offers unmatched in -depth perspectives on China's politics economics business technology and society well today's team of reporters and contributors provides valuable information from all of the world's major economies I hope you can join me on world today for the very best insights and news from China on China and help to build a better understanding of China's role in the world today you've been listening to root today China's tourism industry is on track for a major rebound.
According to a recent projection by Citi, tourism revenue in China could hit 1 trillion or nearly $140 billion by next year.
The forecast reflects not just a post -pandemic recovery but also China's broader strategy to open its doors to the road through expanded visa -free access, longer transit stays and new incentives.
So how is China reshaping its tourism experience to appeal to global audiences and what does this mean for the services sector and the country's economic transformation?
Joining us now to unpack this development is Professor Liu Bao -chung, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.
Thanks for joining us, Professor.
Hi there, it's a pleasure.
Professor, let's begin with the bigger picture.
cities are projecting that China's tourism industry could reach one trillion yuan next year from your perspective what are the key drivers behind this growth forecast well I think it's a very optimistic but also realistic projection this is a conclusion is based on a number of factors first the consumers as tourists they look for total satisfaction in their entire experience, looking for a destination to travel to.
In that regard, China just unpacked a number of packages to attract the foreign tourists based on the visa -free policy, based on the reduction of taxes through duty -free shops, And also, there has been a heavy promotion from both the government level and also the civic level on Ni Hao China.
So these are really creating a very positive effect.
For example, today I received two scholars from Switzerland who travel from Wuhan to Beijing.
And it's, they said, it's really mind -blowing, taking the fast train only four hours.
And we were talking about the experiences the, 20 years ago, when I was traveling to Wuhan, that was really a horrible experience.
People get crowded and push each other, so now it's so smooth and so quiet.
So this is really a very decent experience experience for all tourists.
And in addition to that, I think China has also diversified its tourist offering so that more of the international tourists that are looking for ecotourism, the original cultural heritage, and also some of the experienced travelers like tea picking, martial arts schools, calligraphy learning.
And, you know, all these are there to attract foreign tourists on different dimensions with different the pursuit.
So this is a something that's really gave a very positive picture for the years to come.
Professor, the visa -free policies are now part of a broader package that includes the tax incentives, like lowering the shopping tax refund threshold from 500 yuan to 200 yuan.
That's about 28 US dollars and improving payment accessibility for foreign car holders.
How do you assess the willingness of international tourists to spend in China today under this new policy mix?
Because the tourist is not really a necessity for life, so therefore the tourists look for their psychological satisfaction or perceptual satisfaction in the first place particularly for the first time visitors to China, the by having the visa -free transit for 10 days and also for the reduction of the tax is really something that's rewarding and it removes some of the psychological the mishap in applying for complicated visa etc. and also to look for refund in their purchase tax etc. This can also boost the spontaneous travel because I just go and pack without worrying about the visa, without
worrying about the getting stuck at the Custom House, et cetera.
So I just pack and go.
And so that's really encourages the last minute travel decisions.
And then another reason is that it does really help restore the confidence and the convenience within the mindset of those travelers because it signals that China is now open for business, China is getting very friendly to all foreigners, so this perception shift is very crucial, especially after the COVID and also uh, given the geopolitical complexities and also some of the, you know, the misinformation that's delivered by some irresponsible media over, you know, how difficult China is or how China implements their security control etc. So this is really, uh, eye -opening and also a relaxation in terms
of psychology and also in terms of real purchase power.
Professor, briefly, what products are on their shopping list, based on your observation?
Actually, given that Made in China is available in every corner of the world, they are not really looking for inexpensive stuff like shoes or toys, etc. They look more for experience, I should say.
So, they used to have sightseeing in Beijing, Xi 'an, and Guilin, but now they wanted to dive deep into the Chinese society to visit museums, to talk with people, to live with farmhouses.
So, these are really very interesting, and they also wanted to get deeply engaged in Chinese culture, participating in some of the festivals with dance, and with many other games, and they also are there to learn with the Chinese arts and crafts, and particularly with some of the ethnic type of culture.
So these are really interesting, and this can also help them to a longer stay within China and more stories can be told so their word of mouth can also attract more people instead of simply those the tourist agencies are they are promoting.
So they are helping the promotion process for China and for Chinese tourists.
The desire to experience the Thank you, Professor.
That was really enlightening perspective.
Thanks, Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business and Economics.
That's all the time for this edition of Rode Today.
To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Rode Today.
I'm Kiana in Beijing.
Thank you so much for listening.
Bye for now
