How, then, to explain the resilience of China’s exports in the turmoil of the global trade war? Some companies have been “front-loading”, or shipping extra goods to America, on fears that the truce will not hold and levies will increase further later.

American companies in China are reporting record-low investment plans and declining confidence in profits this year.

Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang spent months telling everyone what a grave mistake the US was making restricting shipments of artificial intelligence processors to China — with little sign that his argument was swaying anyone.

The moves by Apple and the Pentagon are part of a broader U.S. push to nearshore rare earth supply chains. Earlier this year, President Trump proposed annexing Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory estimated to contain $4.4 trillion worth of rare earth reserves. Vice President JD Vance made a surprise visit in support of the plan.

China accounted for 5.89% of all U.S. trade in May, its lowest percentage in decades. Trump’s tariffs or trade trickery? It’s hard to dispute it’s a remarkable shift.

The rate, which slightly exceeded the 5.1 per cent average estimate from analysts polled by Reuters, positions Beijing to hit its full-year target of about 5 per cent. It shows how China has been able to keep growth on track through exports and investment even as it struggles with weak demand at home.

Looming U.S. tariffs, together with a real estate market slump feeding into weakening consumer confidence, saw China's GDP growth slow in the second quarter.

China's naphtha imports will hit record levels this year as new plants and caution over U.S. propane and ethane purchases will drive demand and support refiners' margins for the petrochemical feedstock,

China has reported that its economy slowed in the last quarter as President Donald Trump's trade war escalated, but it still expanded at a robust 5.2% pace.

Shoppers are taking advantage of a $42 billion government trade-in program aimed at boosting spending. But in recent weeks, some cities have started to cut back on the subsidies.