China's Coming Reductions in Import Barriers: A Short-Term or Long-Term Change?

Tokyo (AFP) - A large business delegation left Japan Monday for China with hopes of being granted an audience with President Xi Jinping as the two countries take baby steps towards patching up tattered relations.

Having lambasted China throughout the U.S. election campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to slap 45 percent tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office, Trump's presidency was a bitter pill to swallow for China's regime, which like many other nations, has voiced loud concerns in the past few days if Trump plans on following through with his threats.

In this bipolar market, where only momentum, liquidity, technicals and short squeezes matter, as well as the occasional kneejerk reaction to a flashing red headline (usually some lie out of Venezuela or Nigeria about an imminent OPEC meeting which has not even been scheduled), one thing that no longer seems to have an impact on prices is actual news and fundamentals.

SHANGHAI: China cut the value of its yuan currency against the US dollar for the second day in a row Wednesday, taking the reductions to 3.5 per cent this week — the largest in more than two decades. The move has reinforced concerns about the world's second largest economy, and analysts are divided over the reasons behind the move and the consequences it will have. Why is China doing this now?

Berlin (AFP) - China's Premier Li Keqiang will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, the third top-level talks this year between the export powers, amid growing disquiet over human rights and business rules.

In a reminder that Donald Trump's trade policies - at least as he represented in the past, before surrounding himself with ex-Goldman globalists - are largely protectionist, on Friday, the US President will sign executive orders aimed at "identifying abuses" that are causing "massive U.S. trade deficits" and clamp down on non-payment of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports, his top trade officials said quoted by Reuters.

By Vatsal Srivastava Devaluing the domestic currency during gloomy economic conditions has always been an important and crucial ammunition tool for policymakers. In the recent past, almost all major developed countries have adopted this approach. When the European Central Bank announces QE and sends the Euro tumbling, it is for a strong and united Europe. When Japan announces the largest bond buying program in financial history (as a percentage of the monetary base) and sends the yen on a freefall, it is because of the dismal demographic trends.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's imports fell unexpectedly in November while export growth slowed, adding to concerns the world's second-largest economy could be facing a sharper slowdown and adding pressure on policymakers to ramp up stimulus measures.