News analysis Not even a month ago, reports of a first-quarter consumer-spending surge created much enthusiasm about China’s return to economic strength. News that this spending had pushed China’s real gross domestic product (GDP) well ahead of consensus expectations renewed talk that China would surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy. Even then,…

BEIJING—China’s imports contracted sharply in April, while exports rose at a slower pace, reinforcing signs of feeble domestic demand despite the lifting of COVID-19 curbs and heaping pressure on an economy already struggling in the face of cooling global growth. China’s economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter thanks to robust services consumption,…

News Analysis The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently claimed that China’s economic growth is stable, citing a double-digit spike in exports to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in March. Some financial institutions revealed that official data could not conclude that China’s exports are rebounding as various factors need to be considered. On April…

LONDON—Aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange shrugged off a decision by the United States to impose steep tariffs on Russian metal on Friday, though traders said prices would have jumped if the U.S. had imposed sanctions instead. One year on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States said it would impose a 200…

WASHINGTON—U.S. import prices dropped for a seventh straight month in January amid declining costs for energy products, leading to the smallest annual increase in imported inflation in two years. The report from the Labor Department on Friday, however, did little to assuage financial market fears the Federal Reserve could maintain its interest hiking campaign through…

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has recently relaxed its pandemic control measures imposed on non-cold chain imports. On July 12, China’s top health body announced that nucleic acid swabs and disinfection would no longer be imposed on “low-risk non-cold chain imported goods,” but goods deemed high risk of transmission will still be disinfected. The announcement…

WASHINGTON—U.S. import prices accelerated by the most in 11 years in March due to a surge in petroleum prices. Import prices jumped 2.6 percent last month, the largest rise since April 2011, after increasing 1.6 percent in February, the Labor Department said on Thursday. In the 12 months through March, prices raced 12.5 percent, the…

Britain will join the United States in halting the import of Russian oil and related products, to ramp up the economic pressure on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The move, announced by UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Tuesday, comes on the heels of other sanctions on Russian financial systems and individuals in Russian…

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday a ban on Russia oil and gas imports to the United States, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. McDonald’s is pulling out of Russia, shuttering hundreds of locations. It’s joining a growing group of companies severing ties with the country. Amid U.S.-China trade tensions, do U.S. companies in China want…

WASHINGTON—A U.S. trade court barred Google late Thursday from importing products that infringe home-audio company Sonos’s smart-speaker patents. The U.S. International Trade Commission affirmed an August decision that Google audio products infringed five Sonos patents and banned Google from importing “networked speaker devices” and devices that can control them like mobile phones and laptops. The…