Mark Magnier

5 days ago | scmp.com | Mark Magnier

As the world waits expectantly for this weekend’s meeting between top US and Chinese officials in hopes of a breakthrough in a trade war holding the global economy hostage, expect the talks to be largely about frameworks, minutiae and setting boundaries without the definitive deal that companies and markets desperately seek, said analysts and former government officials.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Mark Magnier |Khushboo Razdan

The US trade deficit widened to a record high in March as businesses boosted imports of goods ahead of tariffs, which dragged gross domestic product into negative terrain in the first quarter for the first time in three years. The trade gap jumped 14.0 per cent to a record US$140.5 billion from a revised US$123.2 billion in February, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said on Tuesday. This was the widest deficit for a month on record, dating back to 1992.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Mark Magnier

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he was ordering a new front in his tariff war – extending his “America first” blitz to foreign-made films and claiming that Hollywood was being “devastated” by the number of filmmakers and studios working overseas. If his administration follows through on the president’s remarks, it would be the first time that a Trump tariff is imposed on services rather than manufactured goods.

1 week ago | thestar.com.my | Mark Magnier

To break China’s strategic grip on critical minerals, the US must remove impediments, streamline issuance of permits and marshal capital to mine resources from the sea floor, witnesses told Congress on Tuesday. The hearing by a House Committee on Natural Resources subcommittee comes as US President Donald Trump – known for his “drill, baby, drill” mantra – promotes the harvesting of oil and minerals with minimal regard for environmental or foreign policy costs.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Mark Magnier

As Washington and Beijing circle each other warily with US-China trade and the global economy hanging in the balance, a seemingly simple yet hugely freighted impediment remains how to open communication channels, analysts said. One approach floated by Chinese officials would see special envoys created by Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.