28/03/2025

BIZ & FINANCE

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAR 28, 2025 17 Trump may cut China duties to seal TikTok deal WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he may offer to reduce tariffs on China to get Beijing’s approval for the sale of popular social media platform TikTok. “Maybe I give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” he told reporters at the White House. Trump earlier this month said the United States was in talks with four groups interested in acquiring TikTok, with the app facing an uncertain future in the country. A US law has ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance or be banned in the United States, enacted over concerns that Beijing could exploit the video-sharing platform to spy on Americans or covertly influence US public opinion. The law took effect on Jan 19, a day before Trump’s inauguration, but he quickly announced a delay to the law which has allowed it to continue to operate. That delay is set to expire on April 5. “We’re going to have a form of a deal,”Trump said, adding that if it was not done in time, he would extend the deadline. “China is going to have to play a role in that, possibly in the form of an approval and I think they’ll do that.” In January, TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States and disappeared from app stores as the deadline for the law approached, to the dismay of millions of users. Trump suspended its implementation for two-and-a-half months after beginning his second term on Jan 20, seeking a solution with Beijing. TikTok subsequently restored service in the United States and returned to the Apple and Google app stores in February. TikTok does not appear overly motivated regarding the sale of the app. – AFP SK Hynix says some customers brought forward orders ICHEON: South Korea’s SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, said yesterday that some customers have brought forward orders in preparation for new US tariffs on semiconductors. Speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, SK Hynix’s head of global sales and marketing Lee Sang-rak said the “pull-in” effects, along with the reduction in customers’ inventory, led to favourable market conditions recently. But he added it remains to be seen whether the trend will continue. In January, SK Hynix had said its shipments of DRAM and NAND flash memory chips would decline by between 10% and 20% in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter. US chipmaker Micron, SanDisk and China’s YMTC have recently raised their memory chip prices, partly due to robust demand from the AI market, according to media reports. US President Donald Trump said in February he intends to impose tariffs on imports of semiconductors and some other products“in the neighbourhood of 25%”. “Fears that the US may impose semiconductor tariffs in April have led to preemptive transfers of semiconductor inventory to the United States,” Nomura said in a report this week. “It is not yet known if the tariffs will actually be imposed; if this materialises, it could lead to higher prices for set products, which could dampen demand.” SK Hynix, a key supplier to AI chip leader Nvidia, expects “explosive growth” in high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips demand this year, backed by investments in data centres, CEO Kwak Noh-Jung told shareholders. – Reuters

US announces 25% tariffs on foreign-built vehicles

“It’s a stark reminder: Trump’s not bluffing – or at least he’s doing a good job pretending he’s not,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes. “And if he goes full throttle with this round of tariffs – especially the reciprocal measures slated for April 2 – markets are staring down the barrel of the worst-case macro cocktail: faster inflation, slower growth and a fresh wave of volatility.” The retreat in the auto sector hit broader markets, which were already shaky owing to worries over Trump’s trade agenda. Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei, Bangkok and Manila all fell. London opened on the back foot along with Paris and Frankfurt. “Within the Asia-Pacific region, the car levies will hit Japan and South Korea the hardest,” said Stefan Angrick and Dave Chia at Moody’s Analytics. “About 6% of Japan’s total exports are cars shipped to the US. In South Korea’s case, it’s 4%. Such a sizeable tariff hike will undermine confidence, hit production and reduce orders.” Hong Kong and Shanghai eked out gains along with Singapore and Mumbai. The broadly negative day followed losses on all three of Wall Street’s main indexes ahead of the president’s announcement, with the CBOE Volatility Index – or “fear gauge” – jumping almost 7%. – AFP

States are made within the country. Of the imported vehicles, about half come from Mexico and Canada, with Japan, South Korea and Germany also major suppliers. Japan’s government called the tariffs “extremely regrettable”, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called it a “direct attack” on his country’s workers. And French Finance Minister Eric Lombard warned yesterday: “The only solution for the European Union will be to raise tariffs on American products in response.” There was little comfort in Trump’s comments that reciprocal measures lined up for next week could be “very lenient”. The auto news hammered carmakers in Asia. In Tokyo, Toyota – the world’s top-selling carmaker – fell 2%, Honda shed 2.5% while Nissan was off 1.7%, while Mazda dived 6%. Seoul-listed Hyundai gave up more than 4%. Among European auto firms, Paris-listed Renault lost nearly 2%, while in Frankfurt BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes lost around 4%. In Mumbai, India’s Tata Motors, which exports Jaguar Land Rovers to the United States, lost more than 5%. US-listed car giants also tumbled with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis all deep in the red in after-hours trade.

HONG KONG: A plunge in automakers hit Asian and European equities yesterday after Donald Trump announced painful tariffs on all imported vehicles and parts as he presses hardball trade policies many fear will spark a recession. Indications that levies lined up for the president’s “Liberation Day” on April 2 would be less severe than feared had given investors a little hope and helped markets chalk up much-needed gains. However, the White House’s habit of alternating between tough talk and leniency has fanned uncertainty and the latest announcement did little to soothe nerves. “What we’re going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States,” Trump said as he signed an order in the Oval Office. The move takes effect at 12:01am Eastern time (12pm in Malaysia) on April 3 and affects foreign-made cars and light trucks. Key automobile parts will also be hit within the month. About half of the cars sold in the United o News hammers share prices of automakers in Asia and Europe

A view of Balboa Port, one of the assets that CK Hutchison agreed to sell to a BlackRock-backed consortium, in Panama. – REUTERSPIC

Beijing tells state firms to halt deals with Li Ka-shing’s family: Bloomberg BEIJING: China has instructed state-owned firms to pause new deals with businesses linked to Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and his family after his plan to sell two ports in Panama to a BlackRock-led consortium, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. US$19 billion (RM84 billion) in cash. The directive was issued to state-owned enterprises last week at the behest of senior officials, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Existing tie-ups are not affected. depicting it as a betrayal of China. China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office reposted some of the commentaries on its website, which fuelled speculation Beijing could take steps to try to scupper the sale.

Chinese regulators, under the instructions of central leadership, have begun looking into the deal, a source has told Reuters, a sign of Beijing’s discontent with CK Hutchison’s divestment under perceived US pressure. US President Donald Trump has hailed the transaction after previously calling for the Panama Canal to be removed from what he deemed to be Chinese control. – Reuters

The report added Chinese regulators are also reviewing what investments the family has in China and abroad in a bid to better understand the breadth of their business dealings. Over the past two weeks, pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao has published a series of commentaries criticising the deal for harming China’s national interests and

CK Hutchison, the telecoms-to-retail conglomerate owned by Li, has been caught in China’s crosshairs in the highly politicised deal with the US firm. The Hong Kong-based company this month agreed to sell most of its global ports business, including assets near the strategically important Panama Canal, in a deal that would garner the firm more than