Business

China hits back at US tariffs with vow to take case to the WTO

Published

8 months ago

February 2, 2025

In response to US tariffs, China says it will safeguard its interests. Photo: AFP

China will file a claim with the WTO and take necessary countermeasures to safeguard its interests, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday after the US announced it would impose tariffs on Chinese goods.

“The unilateral tariff hikes by the US seriously violate World Trade Organization rules,” the ministry said, adding that the move “not only fails to address America’s own issues” but also “disrupts normal China-US economic and trade cooperation”.

“We urge the US to take an objective and rational approach to its domestic issues, such as fentanyl, rather than resorting to tariff threats against other countries,” the ministry said.

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The ministry’s statement followed US President Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to sign an executive order imposing a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports in response to what he said was the failure of Chinese officials to stem the flow of precursor chemicals for fentanyl into the United States.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in North America.

The White House also referred China’s “intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer, and other unreasonable behaviour”, as well as illegal immigration “including a rising number of Chinese nationals and people on the terror watch list”.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed Beijing’s efforts to control the illegal production of fentanyl, saying the country was “one of the world’s strictest and most thorough enforcers of anti-narcotics policies”.

“The fentanyl crisis is a problem of the United States, and out of humanitarian concern, China has supported US efforts to tackle the issue,” the foreign ministry said.

It called the tariffs “unconstructive”, saying they would “inevitably impact and undermine” future cooperation between the two sides on drug control.

“We urge the US to correct its wrongful actions, safeguard the hard-won progress in bilateral anti-drug cooperation, and promote the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations,” the foreign ministry said.

Along with the tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump also signed orders to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico. The tariffs will go into effect on Tuesday and will be on top of those already in place.

Gary Ng, a senior economist at French investment bank Natixis, said the executive orders marked a new trade war era, with the US “using tariffs to achieve US economic and geopolitical goals, regardless of whether they are (against) allies”.

“The move has brought the tariffs on the US’ biggest trading partners to a more similar level (as those on China),” Ng said.

He said China could take a range of retaliatory measures, including imposing reciprocal tariffs, introducing export controls on certain critical materials, and restricting market access for certain American firms.

Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said the 10 per cent tariffs signed off by Trump were “not a big shock to China’s economy”.

“It’s unlikely to change the market expectation of China’s macro outlook this year, which already factored in higher tariffs from the US,” Zhang said.

The tariffs on China are also well below the 60 per cent import duties Trump threatened to enact at various points on the presidential campaign trail last year.

Zhang added the focus of the US trade policy announced on the weekend was on Canada and Mexico, not China, pointing to the differing tariff rates imposed on each country.

Business

Naira appreciates massively against US dollar across official, black markets

Published

1 day ago

September 20, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

The naira appreciated massively against the United States dollar across official and parallel foreign exchange markets to end the week on a good note.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s data showed that the naira strengthened to N1,487.90 against the dollar on Friday, up from N1,498.98 on Thursday.

This means that the Naira firmed up against the dollar at the official market by N11.08 on a day-to-day basis.

At the black market, the naira appreciated by N15 to N1,522 on Friday per dollar from N1,537 on Thursday.

The development showed that the Naira gained against foreign exchange currenciesacross FX markets on Friday. This is a major boost from Wednesday and Thursday’s downtrend the naira experienced.

Ekwutosblog reports that the Naira gained N3.9 on a week-on-week basis when compared to N1,501.50 traded last week Friday.

This comes as the apex bank data showed that the country’s external reserves had continued its rise and stood at $41.99 billion as of September 18, 2025.

Business

Vietnam closes 86 million bank accounts over missing biometric verification

Published

2 days ago

September 19, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

The government in Hanoi has ordered the closure of bank accounts lacking biometric verification, affecting over 86 million accounts.

Starting September 1, Vietnam has decided to permanently close more than 86 million bank accounts that did not comply with the new facial biometric authentication requirements. The remaining 113 million accounts have been subjected to verification under the new anti-fraud and anti-money laundering regulations.

The situation has particularly impacted foreigners residing in the Asian country. A Reddit user, a former international contractor, reported being forced to return to Vietnam in person to avoid the closure of his HSBCaccount, as remote solutions for biometric verification were not available.

“This is a very insidious way to do a bail-in while also increasing the surveillance state,”commented Marty Bent.

According to Daniel Batten, researcher and co-founder of CH4 Capital, these measures give the Vietnamese central bank “next-gen financial surveillance ability.”

The Hanoi government justified the introduction of the new rules by citing the increased use of generative AI and sophisticated spoofing techniques to bypass banking security systems. Last May, local police dismantled a laundering network that used fake facial scans and had moved approximately 1,000 billion Vietnamese dong ($39 million).

The new regulations require facial biometric authentication for first-time registration and online transfers over 10 million dong ($379), while combined transactions exceeding 20 million dong ($758) always require biometric verification.

Business

Court restrains NUPENG from going on strike, disrupting Dangote refinery’s operations

Published

4 days ago

September 18, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

The National Industrial Court has granted an interim injunction restraining the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) from blocking Nigerian roads, or frustrating and shutting down the operations of Dangote refinery, MRS Oil Nigeria Limited, and MRS Oil and Gas Company Limited.

The court also restrained NUPENG and other drivers’ associations from embarking on an industrial action or compelling other truck drivers to join in its industrial action.

Emmanuel Subilim, the presiding judge, delivered the ruling on Wednesday following an ex parte motion filed by George Ibrahim, the refinery’s lawyer.

Granting the ex parte, the judge said ‘irreparable damage” may be caused to Dangote refinery if the necessary orders were not granted.

Ibrahim approached the court with an ex parte motion filed alongside the originating processes and a motion on notice, dated and filed September 15.

The lawyer prayed the court to direct NUPENG and its members to continue petroleum trucking services to the refinery, MRS, and the Nigerian public pending the determination of the motion on notice.

In an affidavit deposed by Ahmed Hashem, the group’s general manager, government and strategic relations of the refinery, the applicants provided an undertaking of damages to the organisation if the court ultimately rules against the restraining request.

After hearing Ibrahim, the judge held that “this court, having satisfied itself that there is a serious issue to be tried, that the balance of convenience tilts in favour of the Applicants (Dangote Refinery), that irreparable damage may be occasioned if the necessary orders are not granted, and that the Applicants have given an undertaking as to damages”.

He ruled that NUPENG ought to be restrained, granting interim injunction on the refinery’s request.

‘RESTRAINING ORDER TO LAST FOR SEVEN DAYS’

The judge noted that the restraining orders would remain in effect for seven days.

He further directed the applicants to serve the respondents with the motion on notice and all accompanying processes in the suit within seven days from the date of the order.

The judge also noted that the court’s authority to sit during the ongoing vacation would expire on September 23.

Consequently, he ordered that the case file be forwarded to the president of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria for reassignment to another judge, who will hear and determine the motion on notice as well as the substantive case on its merits.

On September 11, NUPENG placed its members on red alert for the resumption of its nationwide industrial action — two days after it suspended its strike action, in protest against Dangote refinery’s “anti-union practices”.

The union said it made the decision after Sayyu Dantata, the owner of Mrs Oil, allegedly instructed his truck drivers, who had been NUPENG-Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) members for several years, to remove union stickers from their trucks.

NUPENG said the action led to an altercation between the truck drivers and its officials.