Daily Buzz: 17 December 2025

China Sets EU Pork Duties at Lower Rates

China imposed anti-dumping duties on EU pork and pig products at lower rates than earlier indicated after the conclusion of a year-long investigation, the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday. The final duties range from 4.9 percent to 19.8 percent, effective today for a period of five years. China previously announced provisional duties of up to 62.4 percent. The ministry said its investigation found that cheaper EU pork imports were hurting the domestic pig industry. The affected products include fresh, chilled and frozen pork, edible offal and pig lard.

Ukraine Says Revised Peace Plan to Be Presented to Russia

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine could be soon finalized and presented to Russia by the weekend. After two days of talks in Berlin, US officials said on Monday they had resolved 90 percent of outstanding issues between Russia and Ukraine, but the final outcome is uncertain amid Moscow's unwillingness to date to accept compromises. Shares in defense manufacturers dropped in Europe on Tuesday as investors began betting that an end to the war will diminish military spending.

Trump Top Aide Says Boat Attacks Aimed at Ousting Maduro

President Donald Trump's aim in blowing up alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean is motivated by a desire to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, contradicting the administration's claim that the target is drug cartels, not regime change. She also said that any plans to attack targets on Venezuela's mainland would require congressional approval.

Top Business

Biren Technology Plans HK IPO

Shanghai-based AI chip startup Biren Technology, founded in 2019 by a team of professionals from Nvidia, Alibaba and Huawei, plans an initial public offering in Hong Kong within weeks, amid reports that the company may seek to raise US$300 million. Biren looks set to issue 372 million shares in the sale, with its state-affiliated and private-equity stakeholders converting 873 million of Chinese mainland shares into Hong Kong-listed stock.

Biren Technology is focused on designing general-purpose graphics processing units for AI workloads, data centers and cloud services. Its flagship BR100 chip rivals global industry leaders like Nvidia's A100. In September, Biren raised about US$207 million in new financing as a prelude to going public. Biren was added to a US blacklist of companies deemed "national security risks" in 2022. Development of artificial intelligence is a key priority for the Chinese government in its campaign to end reliance on foreign semiconductors and defy US attempts to curb its technology.

Mannings to Exit the Chinese Mainland Market

Hong Kong-based Mannings, the city's biggest pharmacy and cosmetics chain and a major retailer through Southeast Asia, said it is closing all offline and online stores in the Chinese mainland. According to a statement on its official website, all offline stores will be closed by January 15, and stores on Tmall and JD.com online platforms will be suspended at the end of this month. There was no immediate explanation for the closure. Mannings, which entered the Chinese mainland market in 2004, operates more than 120 stores on the mainland. The company is a unit of Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International Holdings.

Ford to Pare Electric Vehicle Production

Ford Motor said it's eliminating range of electric car models, highlighting an increasing retreat from new-energy vehicles by some carmakers amid slowing sales, the US ending of tax credits on electric cars, and Europe's move to backpedal from its 2035 ban on combustion-engine vehicles. Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley told Reuters that "the market really changed over the last couple of months." US sales of electric cars plunged 40 percent in November. Ford said it will take a US$19.5 billion writedown related to canceling development of new electric models, dissolution of a battery joint venture with South Korea's SK Group and other expenses. Other traditional automakers are also reverting back to gasoline and hybrid models, narrowing their electric vehicle lineups.

Trump's Son-in-Law Drops Out of Battle for Warner Bros

Affinity Partners, the private equity firm of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, dropped out of Paramount's hostile US$108 billion takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery. The firm said the "dynamics of the investment have changed significantly," without elaborating. Kushner's involvement in the high-profile Hollywood corporate battle between Paramount and Netflix raised eyebrows after Trump started taking a personal interest in it.

Economy & Markets

Asian Markets Slump on Economic Outlook, AI Debt

Asian stock markets tumbled for a second day on Tuesday on concerns about softer Chinese economic data and a sell-off on Wall Street spurred by concerns about the rising AI-related debt of technology titans like Oracle. South Korea's Kospi index led the declines in Asia for a second day, dropping 2.2 percent, while Japan's Nikkei was off 1.6 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slumped 1.54 percent to nearly a three-month low, and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.1 percent. Among Chinese technology companies listed in Hong Kong, Alibaba lost 2.96 percent, Tencent was down 1.08 percent and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp retreated 1.93 percent. In Shanghai trading, chipmaker Cambricon fell 4.4 percent and Moore Threads sank 7 percent. In overnight trading in New York, the Dow and S&P 500 indexes closed lower for a third day, but the Nasdaq rose, lifted by a record Tesla close amid hype over its robotaxis.

US Jobs Data Shows Slight Improvement

US job growth grew slightly more than expected in November after suffering its worst slump in five years in October, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report delayed by the earlier 43-day government shutdown. The economy added 64,000 jobs in November after payrolls dropped 105,000 a month earlier. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, its highest level in nearly five years. The bureau changed its methodology of data collection after the shutdown. In a separate economic report, the Commerce Department said retail sales in October were flat, following a 0.1 percent gain in September.

Orthodontics Shakeup After Procurement

China's orthodontics market has undergone a shakeup after a nationwide bulk procurement program drove prices down. Click, a provider in the dental segment of teeth-straightening, announced this month that it is ceasing operations due to "technical and operational issues." The move affects more than 10,000 patients and tens of thousands of partner dental clinics, according to industry estimates. The company said it has coordinated with rival suppliers, including Angelalign and Smartee, to take over ongoing cases. Analysts said Click's collapse highlights mounting pressure on mid-sized players after China's orthodontics bulk-buy program drove down prices.

Corporate

CMOC Buys Brazilian Gold Miner

China's CMOC Group, one of the world's largest producers of cobalt, copper and tungsten, purchased the Brazilian operations of Equinox Gold for US$1 billion, as part of its expansion into precious metals, Bloomberg News reported. Luoyang-based CMOC has mining operations on the Chinese mainland and in Ecuador and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company's shares in Hong Kong have doubled since June.

Ant Upgrades Its 'Online Family Doctor'

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group upgraded its AI health app AQ as it expands into the market for family and aged health care, the South China Morning Post reported. The application is an "online family doctor," allowing integration of medical records, personal health profiles and channeling of advice from medical practitioners to homes. The application was launched in June and now has 15 million users.

GE HealthCare Opens Center in Tianjin

US-based GE HealthCare opened a new center in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for research, development and commercialization of AI-embodied magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment. It's part of the company's five-year plan to invest 500 million yuan (US$71 million) in China. The company is a US-listed spinoff of multinational conglomerate GE Co.

DBS Authorized for Yuan Clearance

China's central bank appointed DBS, the largest lender in Southeast Asia by assets, to become the first bank in Singapore authorized as a clearinghouse for yuan transactions. The People's Bank of China said the appointment results from a memorandum of cooperation with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The decision will allow clients to invest in yuan-denominated financial products more easily.