Daily Buzz: 17 March 2026

US Seeks to Delay Trump Visit to China Amid Continuing Gulf War

The US said President Donald Trump wants to delay his a trip to China, originally scheduled for late March, for "a month or so," amid the continuing war against Iran, now in its third week. Beijing has never officially confirmed the visit. Earlier, Trump said he wouldn't meet President Xi Jinping unless China agrees to help reopen the oil-vital Strait of Hormuz. China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian acknowledged at a press conference on Monday earlier that there is a "tense situation" in the strait that has impacted the flow of energy," but he didn't comment directly on Trump's call for China's involvement to ensure tankers carrying a fifth of global oil can pass through the narrow waterway. Asked about a Trump visit, he said China and the US have "remained in communications over arrangements for a possible" trip. Lin again stressed Beijing's call for all sides in the Iran conflict to cease military activities and resolve differences through negotiation.

Nomura estimates that oil passing through the strait accounts for only about 6.6 percent of China's total energy consumption. National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui told reporters on Monday that China's energy supply capacity remains sufficient to cope with the volatility in global oil prices.

Trump also railed against NATO and other allies for their unwillingness to get involved in the war against Iran. A day earlier, he called on China, Japan, South Korea, France, the UK and other nations to send warships to the Middle East to secure the strait after the US said air attacks had demolished Iranian military sites, but not oil infrastructure, on Kharg Island, Iran's biggest oil base. German Chancellor German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the war "is not a matter for NATO," an organization dedicated to defensive, not offensive, military action. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain won't be drawn into a wider war, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said she has no immediate plans to send defense forces to the Gulf, even though 70 percent of Japan's oil imports pass through the waterway. Spain, Italy and Australia also vetoed any involvement.

In the Middle East, attacks by both sides continued. Dubai's international airport, normally one of the world's busiest airline hubs, briefly closed to traffic following a drone attack from Iran. The US said 13 troops have been killed in the conflict, with 200 wounded. Oil prices slipped slightly but remained high. Benchmark Brent crude was trading at about US$100.85 a barrel late in New York.

China, US End Trade Talks in Paris

China Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang, Beijing's top trade negotiator, told reporters that economic talks between the US and China that ended Monday in Paris had reached "some preliminary consensus" but provided no details. He once again criticized the fresh unfair-trading investigations Washington has launched against China and other trading partners, saying they could lead to "interruption and damage in hard-won stable economic and trade relations." US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who participated in the meetings, said only that they were "very good." US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the talks focused on US agricultural and energy-related exports.

Cuba's Electricity Grid Collapses

Cuba's national electricity grid collapsed on Monday, plunging about 10 million people into blackout, amid a US-imposed oil blockade ‌on the country, Reuters reported. The nation's decaying infrastructure was believed to be a contributor. Cuba said last week it has entered preliminary talks with the US to try to defuse bilateral tensions. Venezuela, formerly Cuba's main oil supplier, has ceased shipments since the US attacked that country and took over its energy industry. Trump recently said the Cuban situation will be addressed after the Gulf war ends.

Top Business

Leapmotor Reports First Yearly Profit

Leapmotor, the Stellantis-backed Chinese electric car startup, swung to a 2025 net profit of 538 million yuan (US$78 million) from a year-earlier loss of 2.82 billion yuan on strong vehicle sales. It was the first annual profit since the automaker began sales in 2019. Deliveries doubled to 596,555 vehicles, including about 11 percent exports. Revenue slightly more than doubled to 64.73 billion yuan. The company reported its gross margin rose to 14.5 percent from 8.4 percent in 2024, reflecting improved economies of scale as production volumes increased. No figures were reported for the fourth quarter. In 2025, the company launched three new models and upgraded three existing SUV models. US-based Stellantis bought about 20 percent of Leapmotor in 2023.

Foxconn Reports 2 Percent Decline in 4Q Profit

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world's largest contract maker of electronics, posted a 2 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit from a year earlier to NT$45.5 billion (US$1.4 billion). The company is a top assembler of Apple iPhones and makes servers for Nvidia. Revenue for the October-December period rose 22 percent to NT$2.61 trillion on strong demand for cloud and internet products. Sales in that sector, which includes AI servers, comprised 42 percent of revenue, overtaking consumer smart electronics to become the company's biggest income source. Foxconn's gross margin dropped to 5.88 percent from 6.15 percent, mainly reflecting tax increases. For the full year, revenue surged 18 percent to a record NT$8.1 trillion, and net rose 24 percent to NT$189 billion. Foxconn's formal name is Hon Hai Precision Industry.

Nvidia's Huang Forecasts Explosive Orders for New Chips

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang told the chipmakers annual developer meeting that he expects orders for the company's advanced Blackwell and yet-to-be-released Vera Rubin chips to reach US$1 trillion by the end of 2027. Nvidia has become the world's most valuable company by market cap on development of AI graphics processing units, now shifting from chatbots to app agents. Nvidia said last month that revenue this quarter will surge about 77 percent from a year earlier to US$78 billion.

Nvidia is scheduled to roll out the Vera Rubin system later this year, delivering a 10-fold increase in performance per watt over the predecessor Blackwell. At the event, Huang also unveiled the Nvidia Groq 3 language processing unit after the US$20 billion acquisition of the startup in December. The Groq 3 is expected to be shipped in the third quarter.

Economy & Markets

China's Economy Resilient in First Two Months

China's economy is off and running this year, with retail sales of consumer goods, industrial production and fixed-asset investment in the first two months all beating analysts' forecasts. However, the slump in the property market showed no signs of improvement. The National Bureau of Statistics said retail sales rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier on robust Lunar New Year spending on travel, jewelry and meals. Industrial output rose 6.3 percent on strong export growth, reported earlier at 22 percent for January and February. Investment in fixed assets, which includes machinery, infrastructure and property, rose 1.8 percent, but the real estate development segment fell 11 percent. The bureau, however, struck a note of caution. "We should be aware that the evolving external environment is exerting a great impact on China and the geopolitical risks keep rising," it said in a statement. The bureau has been releasing early 2026 data on a two-month basis to avoid distortion caused by the long new year holiday falling in two separate months this year and last. Separately, new home prices across 70 major cities in February dropped 3.2 percent from a year earlier. In the top four biggest cities, prices remained flat from January, though Shanghai rose 0.2 percent.

China Initiates Hydrogen Energy Pilot Program

China launched a nationwide pilot program aimed at accelerating the commercial adoption of hydrogen energy. Under the plan, selected city clusters with strong industrial bases and hydrogen resources will be chosen to test large-scale applications across transportation, heavy industry and new energy sectors. The program aims to build integrated hydrogen supply chains covering production, storage, transport and end-use. Authorities set 2030 targets for lowering the average end-user hydrogen price to below 25 yuan (US$3.60) per kilogram and doubling the number of fuel-cell vehicles to about 100,000 units. The government views hydrogen as a potential new growth engine to support China's broader transition toward a low-carbon industrial economy.

Corporate

Zhipu Unveils GLM-5-Turbo, Raises Prices

Chinese tech startup Zhipu AI on Monday unveiled GLM-5-Turbo, an upgraded large language model optimized for agent-based applications, while simultaneously raising application programming interface prices by about 20 percent. It was the second price increase in recent weeks. The new model is designed for task-oriented AI agents and shows significant performance improvements over the earlier GLM-5 model in benchmark tests. Zhipu also introduced a subscription package tailored for agent deployment, offering both individual and team plans. The package bundles model access with tools aimed at simplifying the deployment of AI "digital employees." The latest price increases come after the February launch of GLM-5. Compared with the earlier GLM-4.7 generation, the GLM-5 series now costs an average 50 percent more, while GLM-5-Turbo represents an increase of about 83 percent over the older model.

JD.com Begins JoyBuy Online Retailing in Europe

JD.com began marketing its next-day delivery shopping site Joybuy in six European countries, taking aim at Amazon, as it expands overseas. The website and app will sell products spanning technology, appliances, beauty, homeware and groceries, at cheaper prices, JD said. The Chinese e-commerce giant has a well-developed supply chain. Its JD Logistics unit opened a "smart" warehouse in the UK in December. JD acquired German consumer electronics retailer Ceconomy last year.

Vivo Announces Higher Prices for Smartphones

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo followed rival Oppo in raising prices for some model, citing the sharp global increase in prices of memory chips used in the devices.

Boston Scientific Gets First Chinese License

US-based Boston Scientific obtained Chinese regulatory approval to produce an intravascular ultrasound catheter at its plant in Shanghai, its first Chinese mainland manufacturing license.

The OptiCross HD devise can be used in treatment of cardiovascular disease, which affects an estimated 330 million people on the mainland, a figure that rises with an aging population.