20/09/2025

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BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | SEPT 20, 2025

Trump, Xi seek TikTok win to break US-China gridlock

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sought an agreement yes terday to keep the video app TikTok online in the United States and ease tensions between the two super powers locked in a trade standoff. The agreement is at the top of the agenda alongside trade for the leaders’ first known call in three months, expected yesterday morning, US officials said. China has not confirmed plans for the call. Trump and Xi’s effort to steady relations comes as the two governments have been discussing a potential in-person summit between Xi and Trump during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in South Korea on Oct 30-Nov 1, Reuters has reported. Beijing’s sign-off is one of the hurdles Trump needed to clear to keep TikTok open. Congress had ordered the app shut down for US users by January 2025 if its US assets weren’t sold by Chinese owner ByteDance. Trump has declined to enforce the law while his administration looks for a new owner, but also because he worries a ban on the app would anger TikTok’s huge user base and disrupt political communi cations. “I like TikTok; it helped get me elected,” Trump said during a press conference on Thursday. “TikTok has tremendous value. The US has that value in its hand because we’re the ones that have to approve it.” Key questions about the deal

availability of eSIM services from China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom is subject to regulatory approval. “The iPhone Air may serve as a testbed for thin-and-light technology that could later be applied to a foldable iPhone,“ said Will Wong, a senior smartphone analyst at IDC. Wong said the Air won’t deliver a major sales boost, as Apple traded off battery life and camera and audio quality, which Chinese consumers value, to achieve the slimmer design features. – Reuters lost manufacturing jobs, cut chronic federal government deficits, correct perceived trade imbalances and bend foreign countries to Washington’s will. Despite the tariffs, China remains the US’ third-largest trading partner and the source of its largest bilateral trade deficit in goods. Trump has threatened but so far withheld punitive tariffs against Chinese exports related to the country’s purchases of Russian oil. At the same time, regional worries are multiplying over Taiwan and the South China Sea, risky flashpoints that struggle to command as much attention in Washington as the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza wars. “Heads-of-state diplomacy plays an irreplaceable role in providing strategic guidance for China-US relations,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington. In an early sign of goodwill prior to the call, China permitted the departure of Wells Fargo banker Chenyue Mao, who had been prevented from returning to the US for several months. – Reuters

export-oriented economy with especially punitive rates. That prompted China to respond in kind. Tariff rates on both sides of the Pacific rose to triple-digit percentages in April. A succession of limited agreements since May paused the tit-for-tat tariff war between the countries. They also set aside issues that led to China choking off rare-earth magnets that Washington needs to make high-tech gadgets. Trump had blocked Beijing’s access to semiconductor design software, jet engines and some chemicals. “China’s effective use of sticks (rare earths) and carrots (TikTok) has turned things heavily in their favour,” said Scott Kennedy, head of the Chinese Business and Economics program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. Tariffs, a tax on US importers, have been a key plank of Trump’s economic policy. He’s raised them to the highest levels in nearly a century. The Republican has portrayed tariffs as an elixir that can recoup

o Negotiations to keep the app running in the United States highlight wider strain on trade, technology and regional disputes

Trump said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to larger trade talks. “We may do an extension with China, but it’s an extension based on the same terms that we have right now, which are pretty good terms.” Other key issues include competition between both sides on semiconductors and other advanced technologies. The US wants more Chinese purchases of US-harvested soybeans and Boeing airplanes. The US is also demanding that China crack down on the export of fentanyl-related chemicals, a major cause of US overdose deaths. Beijing has accused Washington of distorting the issue. Recent data point to slowing economies in both China and the US. Since retaking office in January, Trump sharply hiked tariffs across the board and singled out China’s

remain. It’s not clear the precise ownership structure of the company, how much control China will retain or whether Congress will approve. The deal would transfer TikTok’s US assets to US owners from ByteDance, Reuters has reported. Sources familiar with the deal said US TikTok would still make use of ByteDance’s algorithm. That arrangement worries lawmakers concerned that Beijing could spy on Americans or conduct influence operations through the app. China has said there is no evidence of a national security threat posed by the app. Trump has positioned his foreign policy approach as one of peace seeking and deal-making. Relations remain icy between the world’s two biggest economies. “We’re pretty close to a deal,”

Apple’s iPhone 17 launch sees long queues in Beijing BEIJING: Hundreds of people lined up at Apple’s flagship store in Beijing on the launch day of the iPhone 17 yesterday in a sign that sales of the series are off to a promising start in the world’s second largest economy. Among the roughly 300 people that arrived in the morning at Apple’s store in downtown Sanlitun to pick up phones ordered online was Shuke Wang, 35, who said he purchased the Pro Max model, priced from 9,999 yuan (RM5,896) in China and pegged by analysts to be the best selling model in the 17 series. “I really like the 17 series’ redesign, and I think the orange-coloured one looks good, but too flashy. The Air Model looks good too, but the Pro Max gives longer battery life,“ he said. Apple says the base model iPhone 17 has a brighter, more scratch resistant screen, and will also have a better front-facing camera that will make horizontal selfies look better. Analysts say the iPhone 17 series could give a crucial end-of-year boost to Apple’s market share and shipments in China, which have been pressured this year by intensifying competition from Xiaomi and Huawei amid weak consumer demand. Apple does not disclose pre-order figures. In the first eight weeks of the third quarter, Apple’s shipments decreased 6%, according to data from Counterpoint Research released earlier this week. Chiew Le Xuan, a senior analyst at research company Omdia, said they expected iPhone shipments in China to rise 11% year over year in the second half, driven by the new series, contributing to 5% full-year growth for Apple in 2025. “The iPhone 17 Pro Max is expected to outperform the 16 Pro Max, driven by a major redesign – a factor that has historically spurred replacement demand in China,“ said Chiew. “It is likely to become Apple’s top-performing model in the Chinese market in 2026.” The iPhone Air will be the only model in China to have telecom operators’ support for an e-SIM – a digital SIM embedded in the device. However, Apple has not opened pre sales for the Air in China and says the

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