10/07/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JULY 10, 2025

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How US buyers work around China’s mineral ban

Investments rise in data and AI, overtaking physical assets GENEVA: The purchase of physical assets was eclipsed last year by a surge in investment in intangible items like software, data and AI, the UN said yesterday, describing a “fundamental shift in how economies grow and compete”. Investment in intellectual property backed assets grew three times faster in 2024 than investments in physical objects like machinery and buildings, which have been hit by high interest rates and a subdued economic recovery, the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) said in a fresh report. The report, which was co-published with Italy’s Luiss Business School, showed that intangible investment across 27 high- and middle-income economies grew about 3% in real terms last year, reaching US$7.6 trillion (RM32 trillion), up from US$7.4 trillion a year earlier. “We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how economies grow and compete,“ WIPO chief Daren Tang said in a statement. “While businesses have slowed down investing in factories and equipment during uncertain times, they’re doubling down on intangible assets,“ he said, stressing that “this trend has profound implications for policymakers”. “Countries that understand and nurture intangible investment will be better positioned to grow and thrive in a global economy increasingly driven by technological, digital and cultural innovation.” In 2024, the US led in absolute levels of intangible asset purchases, investing nearly double what runners-up France, Germany, Japan and Britain pumped into such assets, WIPO said. Sweden meanwhile remained the world’s most intangible-asset-intensive economy, with such investments accounting for 16% of the country’s gross domestic product. The US, France and Finland followed, each with an intensity of 15% of GDP. India’s intangible investment intensity of nearly 10% puts it ahead of several European Union economies and of Japan, WIPO said. The report shows intangible asset investment grew steadily at ~4% annually from 2008 to 2024, even during crises. – AFP WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would impose a 50% tariff on imported copper and soon introduce long threatened levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, broadening his trade war that has rattled markets worldwide. One day after he pressured 14 trading partners, including powerhouse US suppliers like South Korea and Japan with fresh tariff letters, Trump reiterated his threat of 10% tariffs on products from Brazil, India and other members of the BRICS group of countries. He also said trade talks have been going well with the European Union and China, though he added he is only days away from sending a tariff letter to

tons of antimony oxides from Thailand and Mexico between December and April, US customs data show. That was more than almost the previous three years combined. Thailand and Mexico, meanwhile, shot into the top three export markets for Chinese antimony this year, according to Chinese customs data through May. Neither made the top 10 in 2023, the last full year before Beijing restricted exports. Thailand and Mexico each have a single antimony smelter, according to consultancy RFC Ambrian, and the latter’s only reopened in April. Neither country mines meaningful quantities of the metal. US imports of antimony, gallium and germanium this year are on track to equal or exceed levels before the ban, albeit at higher prices. Ram Ben Tzion, co-founder and CEO of digital shipment-vetting

platform Publican, said that while there was clear evidence of transshipment, trade data didn’t enable the identification of companies involved. “It’s a pattern that we’re seeing and that pattern is consistent,” he told Reuters. Chinese companies, he added, were “super creative in bypassing regulations.” China’s Commerce Ministry said in May that unspecified overseas entities had “colluded with domestic lawbreakers” to evade its export restrictions, and that stopping such activity was essential to national security. It didn’t respond to Reuters questions about the shift in trade flows since December. The US Commerce Department, Thailand’s commerce ministry and Mexico’s economy ministry didn’t respond to similar questions. US law doesn’t bar American buyers from purchasing Chinese origin antimony, gallium or germanium. Chinese firms can ship the minerals to countries other than the US if they have a licence. Levi Parker, CEO and founder of US– based Gallant Metals, told Reuters how he obtains about 200kg of gallium a month from China, without identifying the parties involved due to the potential repercussions. First, buying agents in China obtain material from producers. Then, a shipping company routes the packages, re-labelled variously as iron, zinc or art supplies, via another Asian country, he said. The workarounds aren’t perfect, nor cheap, Parker said. He said he would like to import 500kg regularly but big shipments risked drawing scrutiny, and Chinese logistics firms were “very careful” because of the risks. Thai Unipet Industries, a Thailand-based subsidiary of Chinese antimony producer Youngsun Chemicals, has been doing brisk trade with the US in recent months, previously unreported shipping records reviewed by Reuters show. Budget Lab estimated consumers face an effective US tariff rate of 17.6%, up from 15.8% previously and the highest in nine decades. Trump’s administration has been touting those tariffs as a significant revenue source. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington has taken in about US$100 billion (RM424 billion) so far and could collect US$300 billion by the end of the year. The US has taken in about US$80 billion annually in tariff revenue in recent years. The S&P 500 finished slightly lower on Tuesday, a day after Wall Street markets sold off sharply following Trump’s new tariffs announcement. – Reuters

o Shipments to American buyers spike from Thailand and Mexico, raising concerns of mineral transshipment

BEIJING: large quantities of antimony – a metal used in batteries, chips and flame retardants – have poured into the US from Thailand and Mexico since China barred US shipments last year, according to customs and shipping records, which show at least one Chinese-owned company is involved in the trade. China dominates the supply of antimony as well as gallium and germanium, used in telecommunications, semiconductors and military technology. Beijing banned exports of these minerals to the US on Dec 3 following Washington’s crackdown on China’s chip sector. Unusually

The resulting shift in trade flows underscores the scramble for critical minerals and China’s struggle to enforce its curbs as it vies with the US for economic, military and technological supremacy. Specifically, trade data illustrate a re-routing of US shipments via third countries – an issue Chinese officials have acknowledged. Three industry experts corroborated that assessment, including two executives at two US companies who told Reuters they had obtained restricted minerals from China in recent months. The US imported 3,834 metric

China’s ban on antimony, gallium, and germanium to the US came after rising chip tensions with Washington. – REUTERSPIX

Trump signals sharp copper tariffs as he expands trade war

countries that were ripping us off ... and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were,“ he said. He said late Tuesday that “a minimum of seven” tariff notices would be released on Wednesday morning, and more in the afternoon. He gave no other details in his Truth Social post. Trading partners across the globe say it has been difficult to negotiate even framework agreements with the US given the haphazard way new tariffs are announced, complicating their internal discussions about concessions. Following Trump’s announcement of higher tariffs for imports from the 14 countries, US research group Yale

following Trump’s threat of 200% tariffs on drug imports, which he said could be delayed by about a year. Other countries, meanwhile, said they would try to soften the impact of Trump’s threatened duties after he pushed back a Wednesday deadline to Aug 1. Trump’s administration promised “90 deals in 90 days” after he unveiled an array of country-specific duties in early April. So far only two agreements have been reached, with the UK and Vietnam. Trump has said a deal with India is close. Trump said countries have been clamouring to negotiate. “It’s about time the United States of America started collecting money from

the EU. Trump’s remarks, made during a White House cabinet meeting, could inject further instability into a global economy that has been shaken by the tariffs he has imposed or threatened on imports to the world’s largest consumer market. US copper futures jumped more than 10% after Trump’s announcement of new duties on a metal that is critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. They would join duties already in place for steel, aluminum and automobile imports, though it was unclear when the new tariffs might take effect. US pharmaceutical stocks also slid