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Viral videos on TikTok from Chinese manufacturers claim many high-end European brands rely on their factories to put their wares together before finalizing production in Europe.

Viral videos on TikTok from Chinese manufacturers claim many high-end European brands rely on their factories to put their wares together before finalizing production in Europe.

Shein says ‘operating expenses have gone up’ as both Chinese retailers also drop ad spending in US
Two of China’s largest fast fashion retailers, Temu and Shein, have warned US customers that they will face price increases from next week, as Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs on Chinese imports come into force.
Both companies will be hit by new import levies, which will mean taxes of up to 145% being applied to Chinese goods. They will also suffer from Trump’s cancellation of the “de minimis” exemption, under which shipments worth less than $800 (£600) could be imported duty-free.

The firms said operating expenses have risen "due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs".

Chinese tea firm Chagee has raised $411 million by setting the price of its shares at $28 each in its initial public offering in the United States, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Online dissent is a serious crime in China. So why did a Weibo censor help me publish posts critical of the Communist party?
It is 2013. For four full months, Liu Lipeng engages in dereliction of duty. Every hour the system sends him a huge volume of posts, but he hardly ever deletes a single word. After three or four thousand posts accumulate, he lightly clicks his mouse and the whole lot is released. In the jargon of censors, this is a “total pass in one click” (一键全通), after which all the posts appear on China’s version of X, Sina Weibo, to be read by millions, then reposted and discussed.
He logs on to the Weibo management page, where many words are flagged. Orange designates sensitive words that require careful examination – words like freedom and democracy, and the three characters that make up Xi Jinping’s name. While such words regularly appear in newspapers or on TV, that does not mean ordinary citizens can use them at will.

A protracted trade war could trigger a global recession and shift the balance of power in ways that fundamentally undermine U.S. standing in the world.

As the Washington-Beijing trade war grows deeper, who will blink first? Amy Hawkins reports
After a fortnight in which Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs evolved into an escalating trade war with China, a sense of defiant nationalism has been building in the east Asian country. The Chinese foreign ministry has even been sharing historic video clips from the former leader Mao Zedong:
“As to how long this war will last, we are not the ones to decide … We’ll fight until we completely triumph!”

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US attorney general Pam Bondi on Wednesday unveiled legal action against Maine, in an escalation of Donald Trump’s conflict with the state for refusing to ban transgender athletes from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
Reuters reports that the lawsuit comes five days after the administration tried to cut off all of Maine’s federal funding for public schools and its school lunch program over the issue, following a 21 February meeting of Trump and a group of US governors where he clashed with Maine’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills.
Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams. Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds.
It was a compelling meeting. And toward the end, we actually came up with – I’m going to say ‘finally,’ but I don’t mean it in the way that we were waiting, I mean it in the way that it took a while for us to get to this place – what Putin’s request is to get, to have a permanent peace here.

A new initiative aims to boost the local economy by attracting elderly travellers to remote parts of the country.

The US president has upset global norms in the space of weeks, spurring a flurry of defence spending, diplomatic overtures and offers to boost trade
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has stoked fears over Washington’s commitment to the security of its allies in the Asia Pacific at a time when tensions are running high in the region, home to several potential flashpoints.
Countries across the region are urgently considering their options in a new era where the US president has over its invasion of Ukraine, suggested in order to redevelop it, and unleashed .

Chinese factories flood TikTok with videos urging Americans to buy direct after Trump’s tariffs - Experts say videos are likely an effort by counterfeit manufacturers to take advantage of confusion ov ...