Daily Buzz: 25 February 2026

China Academic Says Trump Seeking to Rebuild Tariff Walls

Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told China's Global Times on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump is seeking to rebuild tariff barriers after the US Supreme Court pulled the rug out from under his 2025 "reciprocal" tariffs, declaring them illegal. The US is considering new "national security" import tariffs that could span industries such as large batteries, cast iron fittings, plastic piping, industrial chemical, and power grid and telecom equipment, the newspaper said, citing a report in the Wall Street Journal. The levies would be separate from other duties imposed by the Trump administration. Zhou said, "The reported plans demonstrate a strategy to rebuild the tariff framework following the Supreme Court's decision, showing that the US is prepared to exert pressure on other countries to achieve its goals." He warned that the planned tariffs will further cause price fluctuations and supply chain disruptions.

CK Hutchison Employees Told to Vacate Panama Ports

Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison said its workers at two ports on either end of the Panama Canal have been ordered to leave the premises or face criminal prosecution, Reuters reported. The vacate order came after Panama completed legalities to transfer port operations from Hutchinson to Danish maritime Maersk and Italy's Mediterranean Shipping Co, following a court ruling that overturned Hutchison's contracts. CK Hutchison, owned by Hong Kong's richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, said the Panamanian government's forcible takeover of its port assets is unlawful and is threatening legal action.

The canal ports became a flashpoint in China-US relations after US President Donald Trump said he wanted to end Chinese influence over the vital waterway. Hutchison last year included the two ports in a US$23 billion deal to sell all its global port facilities to a US-led consortium, but the deal stalled after Beijing insisted that Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco be included in the agreement.

China Denies US Claims of Nuclear Tests

China denied US accusations that it is conducting nuclear tests, calling them groundless and an excuse to justify its own potential resumption of nuclear testing. Shen Jian, Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, made the remarks at a disarmament conference in Geneva, China Central Television reported. The existing New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and Russia lapsed earlier this month, spurring fears of a resumed arms race.

German Chancellor Begins Visit to China

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrives in Beijing today for a three-day visit to China aimed at improving trade ties. It's Merz's first visit since becoming chancellor last May. He is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, Xinhua news agency reported. China and Germany are the world's second and third-largest economies. Germany posted a trade deficit with China of almost 90 billion euros (US$106 billion) last year. Both Merz and Xi will find common ground in their condemnation of US tariffs. Merz's visit follows recent trips to China by the leaders of the UK, France and Canada.

Top Business

China Tightens Controls on Some Exports to Japan

China's Ministry of Commerce added 20 Japanese companies to its export control list, including affiliates of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, effectively immediately, Bloomberg News reported. The designation bans exporters from supplying goods that have dual civilian and military purposes to companies on the list. The ministry also placed an additional 20 Japanese companies, including Subaru, on a monitor list that subjects exporters to stricter checks when they apply for licenses to export so-called dual-use goods. "The purpose of these measures is to deter Japan's "remilitarization" and its nuclear ambitions," the ministry said in a statement. "These actions are entirely justified, reasonable, and legal." The news triggered a stock market selloff in Japan's defense and heavy machinery sectors. Tensions between China and Japan have remained high since last October when then-new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made Taiwan-related comments that angered Beijing and haven't been rescinded.

Huawei Reveals Modest 2 Percent Revenue Growth

Huawei, a privately owned titan in Chinese technology, had revenue exceeding 880 billion yuan (US$127.6 billion) last year, Chairman Liang Hua disclosed at the 2026 Guangdong High-Quality Development Conference. The figure is a 2 percent rise from 2024 revenue of 862.1 billion yuan. The company nosed out Apple last year to take the largest share of the Chinese smartphone market. Its HarmonyOS 5 and 6 models operate more than 40 million smart devices across multiple sectors. The company is also training large language AI model with its Ascend chips. Looking forward, Liang the company plans to strengthen AI infrastructure and expand the HarmonyOS ecosystem. Huawei, which remains under US sanctions, will disclose full financial results in April.

DJI Files Legal Challenge Against US Ban on Its Drones

China's DJI, the world's largest drone maker, filed a lawsuit in a US Circuit Court of Appeals against the Trump administration's decision to bar imports of all its new models and critical components. The decision "carelessly restricts DJI's business in the US and summarily denies US customers access to its latest technology," the company said. The ban, announced by the Federal Communications Commission in December, also affects Autel and other foreign drone companies.

DeepSeek Used Banned Nvidia Chips, US Official Claims

Chinese startup DeepSeek's latest AI model was trained on Nvidia most advanced Blackwell chips despite the US ban on their shipment to China, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified senior Trump administration official. Nvidia and Deepseek declined comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing opposes "drawing ideological lines, overstretching the concept of national security, expansive use of export controls and politicizing economic, trade, and technological issues." The Trump administration in December agreed to allow shipments of less advanced Nvidia chips to China but banned the Blackwells. Deepseek's widely anticipated latest large language model is expected to be released as early as next week.

Separately, DeepSeek, MiniMax and Moonshot have been accused of "distillation attacks" on US rival Anthropic's Claude AI model, Yicai reported. The Chinese AI startups created over 24,000 fraudulent accounts and generated more than 16 million exchanges to extract capabilities for training their own models, Anthropic alleges.

Economy & Markets

Mainland Shares Rise, Hong Kong Stocks Slide

Chinese mainland stock markets reopened on Tuesday after the nine-day Spring Festival holiday break, with broad gains in share prices. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.87 percent, the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.36 percent, and the tech-heavy ChiNext climbed 0.99 percent. More than 4,000 stocks ended higher, with volume on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges totaling 2.2 trillion yuan (US$310 billion). Technology and AI stocks were among gainers, with Zhongji Innolight rising 4.3 percent, TFC Optical Communication up 12.7 percent and Giga Device Semiconductor increasing 4.7 percent. Amid global gold prices once again breaching US$5,000 an ounce, Zijin Mining rose 4.1 percent.

Hong Kong markets fell. The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1.8 percent, while the Hang Seng Tech Index slid 2.1 percent. Among major technology stocks, Alibaba fell 2.8 percent, Tencent was down 3.4 percent and Semiconductor Manufacturing lost 2.4 percent. Later in the trading day, New York markets bounced back from day-earlier losses, as investor concerns toward the effects of AI on other industries waned. The broad S&P 500 index rose 0.8 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1 percent, led by gains in Advanced Micro Devices and software stocks.

China's Central Bank Leaves Rates Unchanged

China's central bank kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged on Tuesday amid speculation that it might ease them to maintain stability in the offshore yuan against a declining US dollar. The People's Bank of China held its 1-year rate, used for corporate and consumer lending, at 3 percent and its 5-year rate, used in benchmarking mortgages, at 3.5 percent. It was the 10th straight month that rates have remained unchanged.

Yuan Deposits Increase, Households Move Money From Banks

Chinese yuan deposits in January increased by 3.8 trillion yuan (US$551 billion) from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China reported, with non-bank deposits rising by 1.5 trillion yuan. Household savings in bank accounts decreased by 3.4 trillion yuan as people moved their money to wealth management, mutual funds and other products to secure higher returns.

JPMorgan Chief Worries About High Asset Prices

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jaime Dimon said he feels "high anxiety" over the US economy, noting that people seem to be growing comfortable with high asset prices. He said the current environment feels similar to the three years leading into the 2008 financial crisis, when "everyone was making a lot of money, people were leveraging, the sky was the limit," CNBC reported. "There's always a surprise in a credit cycle," he said.

Corporate

Chinese Pharma Firms Sign Global Licensing Deals

US drug giant Pfizer signed a deal valued at up to US$495 million with Hangzhou-based Sciwind Biosciences to obtain exclusive marketing rights in China for Sciwind's new ecnoglutide anti-obesity drug. Last month, Sciwind gained approved for the drug's use in treating Type 2 diabetes from Chinese regulators. Drugs for obesity and diabetes have become the leading edge of global pharma rollouts. Nanjing-based Frontier Biotechnologies said it signed a deal valued at more than US$1 billion with UK pharmaceutical giant GSK, giving it exclusive global rights to two small nucleic acid therapies the company is developing. One of the drugs is in Phase I clinical trials and the other is under development. The company didn't specify what diseases the drugs target.

StanChart Announces Buyback After 4Q Profit Decline

London-based Standard Chartered Bank, which derives most of its income from Asia and is the third-largest bank in Hong Kong by assets, announced a US$1.5 billion share buyback on Tuesday after reporting weaker-than-forecast fourth-quarter earnings. The bank reported profit in the quarter fell 10 percent to US$473 million on 3 percent gain in operating income to US$4.9 billion. For the full year, profit rose 26 percent to US$5.1 billion on a 7 percent gain in operating income to US$20.9 billion. The bank took a US$667 charge on credit impairment. Its net interest margin dropped to 2.03 percent from 2.06 percent.

Unitree Launches New 'Robot Dog'

China's Unitree, which has wowed the public with performances by its humanoid robots, unveiled its latest model of four-legged "robot dog," the As2. It's designed to handle rough terrain, able to walk through snow, woods and rocky paths while carrying up to 15 kilograms of equipment. The robot is waterproof and dust-resistant, and can operate for over four hours on a single charge. It can follow people, respond to hand gestures and even play fetch.

JD Founder Liu Invests in Yacht Industry

Chinese business magnate Liu Qiangdong, founder of JD.com, announced the launch of a personal yacht brand, the Sea Expandary, with a 5 billion yuan (US$710 million) investment. While the investment is personal, Liu stating he will not be directly involved in daily business operations. He said he hopes to develop yachts priced as low as 100,000 yuan, aiming to make sailing more accessible to the public.

Shein Founder Announces New Investment

Xu Yangtian, founder of Chinese discount fashion giant Shein, made a rare public appearance at the Guangdong High-Quality Development Conference, announcing an investment of 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) to build smart supply chains in the southern Chinese province. He said Shein's 2025 export volume exceeded 100 billion yuan, with operations in over 160 countries. The company, now based in Singapore, is known for its "small order, quick delivery" business model. The company is under increasing regulatory scrutiny globally for business practices, amid speculation it may seek an initial public offering. Its 2025 net profit is expected to hit US$2 billion.

MGI to Sell US Unit to Swiss Group

Shenzhen-based MGI Tech, a supplier of gene-sequencing equipment, has agreed to sell its US subsidiary Complete Genomics to Swiss life-sciences group Swiss Rockets for US$50 million to avoid geopolitical risks, Yicai Global reported. Under the deal, MGI will retain rights to use 205 patents held by Complete Genomics. MGI said it faces an increasingly challenging policy environment in the US, where revenue between 2023 and 2025 totaled 474 million yuan (US$69 million), or about 5.5 percent of company earnings.