China’s economy is on the brink as it meets with the Trump team for the first time under this Administration.
Asia Times reports the following on China’s economy:
China is sliding deeper into economic weakness that is being worsened by its response to external shocks.
Tariffs are drying up international demand for Chinese goods, and in a bid to keep factories alive, Beijing is urging exporters to turn inward. However, that pivot is compounding the very problem it aims to solve.
Chinese authorities have been positioning the domestic market as a pressure-release valve for the manufacturing sector. But the influx of export-grade inventory is creating excess at home in a consumer environment that is already highly restrained.
This is accelerating a destructive process: prices are falling, and not because productivity is rising or technology is improving. They’re falling because companies are desperate to shift stock and survive…
…The jobs market remains under pressure, with wage growth uneven. Consumers are cautious, not just about big-ticket items, but also everyday spending. The property sector is still under strain, dragging on household wealth and appetite. So even as goods pile up and prices drop, buyers aren’t stepping in with force.
China’s economy has been on the brink for some time. A year ago, Evergrande – one of the largest real estate conglomerates in China – was forced to liquidate as the company and the country overbuilt.
China’s Evergrande Files for Bankruptcy – World Economy in Dangerous Shape
We have seen China destroy huge buildings due to financial failures. This is important because real estate growth was up to 25% of the country’s GDP.
IF YOU BUILD IT…AND GO BANKRUPT, CHINA WILL BLOW IT UP
Sunshine City II was supposed to be a luxury residential complex – until the money dried up in 2013 and the skyscrapers turned into concrete skeletons.
After years of failed attempts to revive the project, China finally… https://t.co/kNHkqOa1K2 pic.twitter.com/77Hrv9S57a
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 10, 2025
This weekend Secretary Bessent will meet with his Chinese counter parts in Switzerland.
Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since President Donald Trump sparked a trade war with stiff tariffs on imports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their counterparts in Geneva in the most-senior known conversations between the two countries in months, the Trump administration announced Tuesday. It comes amid growing U.S. market worry over the impact of the tariffs on the prices and supply of consumer goods.
No country has been hit harder by Trump’s trade war than China, the world’s biggest exporter and second largest economy. When Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, China retaliated with tariffs of its own, a move that Trump viewed as demonstrating a lack of respect. The tariffs on each other’s goods have been mounting since then, with the U.S. tariffs against China now at 145% and China tariffs on the U.S. at 125%.