Skip navigation


Bloomberg News

Tue, September 23, 2025 at 1:43 AM CDT·9 min read

2.9k

China is hurtling towards a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus.

(Bloomberg) — President Xi Jinping’s export engine has proved unstoppable during five months of sky-high US tariffs, sending China toward a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus.

With access to the US curtailed, Chinese manufacturers have shown they aren’t backing down: Indian purchases hit an all-time high in August, shipments to Africa are on track for an annual record and sales to Southeast Asia have exceeded their pandemic-era peak

That across-the-board surge is causing alarm abroad, as governments weigh the potential damage to their domestic industries against the risk of antagonizing Beijing — the top trading partner for over half the planet.

While so far only Mexico has hit back publicly this year — floating tariffs as high as 50% on Chinese products including cars, auto parts and steel — other countries are coming under increasing pressure to act. Indian authorities have received 50 applications in recent weeks for investigations into goods dumping from nations including China and Vietnam, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Indonesia’s trade minister pledged to monitor a deluge of goods, after viral videos of Chinese vendors touting plans to export jeans and shirts for as little as 80 US cents to major cities caused an outcry.

For all the pain, the chances of more meaningful action are limited. Countries already embroiled in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration appear reluctant to take on a separate trade war with the world’s second-largest economy. That’s giving Beijing breathing room from US levies at heights economists previously predicted would halve the nation’s annual growth rate.

“The subdued response is probably informed by ongoing US trade negotiations,” said Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics. “Some countries may not want to be seen as contributing to a breakdown in the global trading system. Some may also be holding back on tariffs against China in order to offer them as concessions to the US during their own trade negotiations.”Officials shielding their economies from Beijing are treading carefully. South Africa’s trade minister has advised against punitive tariffs on Chinese car exports — which nearly doubled this year — and is instead seeking more investment. Chile and Ecuador are quietly imposing targeted fees on low-cost imports, after Chinese e-commerce giant Temu’s monthly active users in Latin America soared 143% since January. While Brazil has threatened more aggressive retaliation, this summer it gave China’s biggest electric car maker, BYD Co Ltd, a tariff-free window to ramp up local production.

A BYD Brazil factory under construction in Camacari, Brazil in January. Photographer: Tuane Fernandes/Bloomberg

Beijing is using both diplomatic charm and economic threats to prevent countries from taking outright retaliation. Earlier this month, China’s president rallied BRICS nations to forge a united voice against protectionism during a leaders’ call of the bloc, while Commerce Ministry officials have warned Mexico to “think twice” before acting, making clear such steps will have recriminations. Adding to the risks, Trump is pressuring NATO nations to impose tariffs up to 100% on China over its support for Russia.   Chinese officials say their trade with the world is within reasonable bounds and that Beijing isn’t out to dominate global markets. “When there’s demand from abroad, China exports accordingly,” Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said in July. The state-run People’s Daily newspaper on its social media account last month hit back against Western criticisms of “dumping,” arguing that China’s exporters don’t sell below cost. If Trump does corral other countries to gang up on China, it’ll make dealing with internal challenges such as a prolonged property crash and an aging population harder, according to Chang Shu and David Qu of Bloomberg Economics. “Beijing will likely hit back with reciprocal tariffs immediately, but that risks alienating partners at a time when it critically needs allies,” they said. “Over time, it may also encourage firms to localize production in partner countries.”

While Chinese exporters are defying the odds, surging trade isn’t making them richer — or helping the nation’s domestic issues. Profits at industrial firms fell 1.7% in the first seven months, as manufacturers trying to reduce overcapacity at home under Xi’s “anti-involution” drive slashed prices to sell more overseas. That’s only worsening China’s sticky deflation, on track for its longest spell since the country began opening up in the late 1970s.

The export explosion could also undermine Beijing’s efforts to rebalance its economy toward stimulating consumption — defying foreign officials such as US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has urged Beijing to make boosting the Chinese consumer a pillar of its blueprint for the next half-decade. China’s policy document outlining those plans will be in focus in the coming weeks at a key Communist Party meeting.

For Xi, the risks might just be worthwhile. Showing the world China doesn’t need the US consumer strengthens his hand going into a high-stakes meeting with Trump at a summit in South Korea. The world’s biggest economies are still hashing out a possible trade deal, with a 90-day pause on tariffs as high as 145% currently keeping the peace.

China Shock 2.0

Even before Trump stunned the world with America’s steepest tariffs since World War II in April, emerging markets at risk of shedding millions of manufacturing jobs were worried about a glut of Chinese goods. Indonesia’s previous president threatened a 200% tariff to protect local industry, while Brazil has hiked duties on Chinese steel. Even Vietnam took temporary action against Chinese online retail giants that undercut local sellers.

Ultimately, it’s been hard for foreign leaders to protect their economies from China’s vast fleet of factories.

“Protectionism from the US and other countries has turned into a paper tiger because Chinese exporters are extremely competitive,” said Arthur Kroeber, head of research at Gavekal Dragonomics. They “can absorb some of the tariff hit and also have plenty of workarounds through transshipment and relocating late-stage production to lower-tariff countries.”

China’s trade surplus last year was almost $1 trillion and is on track to exceed that in 2025, based on Bloomberg calculations.

Cambodia’s central bank governor Chea Serey was candid about the balancing act smaller economies reliant on Beijing are having to perform. “We do import a lot from China,” she told Bloomberg Television earlier this month, when asked about Chinese dumping. “We also rely a lot in terms of foreign direct investment from China.”

While a rise in shipments to Vietnam suggests some goods destined for US shores and other places are being re-routed to bypass Trump’s wall of tariffs, that’s only part of the picture. Demand for China’s world-beating, high-tech innovations helped drive much of the recent traffic. Rising sales to wealthy markets in Europe and Australia also indicate Beijing simply found new buyers for many products.

India shows how Trump’s redrawing of the global trade map is benefiting Beijing in new ways. Exports to China’s neighbor hit a record $12.5 billion last month, driven largely by Apple Inc.’s suppliers rapidly shifting output of iPhones to India from its Asian neighbor. Those companies, however, still depend on parts and tooling made mostly in China.

In July, Chinese firms shipped almost $1 billion worth of computer chips to India and billions of dollars more worth of phones and parts, according to data released by Beijing. That puts exports on track to exceed last year’s record, with the value of shipments so far this year almost as large as the whole of 2021.

“China has performed better than expected in the first half,” JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief India economist Sajjid Chinoy told Bloomberg Television. “Some of this is the fact that China has very cleverly found other export markets, including Europe, which has been a key hedge to slowing exports to the US.”

Read more on Chinese trade:

  • China Exports to US Slump 33% But Trade Surplus Heads for Record
  • China Pours Exports Into Africa Faster Than Anywhere Else
  • A Chinese E-Commerce Glut Is Meeting Resistance in Latin America

Shanghai’s Yangshan Deepwater Port in May.Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

A weaker currency gave China another edge. The yuan has depreciated along with the dollar against currencies such as the euro. Macquarie Bank previously estimated the yuan’s real effective exchange rate — which accounts for inflation differentials between a nation and its main trading partners — was at the weakest level since December 2011.

And the Federal Reserve’s rate cut this month could drag the dollar and possibly the yuan down further, boosting both global demand and also the competitiveness of Chinese exports.

For all the consternation around the world, the glut of goods cascading from China won’t be easy to stop. Chinese electric car exports have continued to power ahead despite steps by the US and Canada to curb them with punitive tariffs and bans.

In the first seven months of this year, carmakers such as Nio, BYD and Xpeng Inc. exported more than $19 billion worth of electric-powered vehicles, about the same as in the same period last year, with Europe being the largest market even after the EU imposed tariffs last October.

China’s in a better position than many other countries to find alternative markets to the US, according to Adam Wolfe of Absolute Strategy Research. Its analysis shows there’s almost a 50% overlap between what China sold to the US and what it exports to BRICS nations, suggesting much of what America no longer buys can be shipped to other markets.

“China’s shown this ability to move into other markets and get market share abroad and that probably continues,” said Wolfe. “I don’t know that China is going to see a contraction in exports over the rest of the year.”

–With assistance from Shruti Srivastava, Philip Heijmans, Claire Jiao, Haslinda Amin, Linda Lew, Ntando Thukwana, Andy Lin and Alex Vasquez.

(Updates with details on China’s trade surplus this year.)

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

 View comments (2.9k)

Award to Trumplelstilskin below: “Heads Up Their Asses” aka HUTA!



The same person 100 years apart? The division of the people according politics, religion or ethnicities in order to attack and subjugate those who are least able to fight back!


Please note Ted Cruz for all of his MAGA adherence is finally speaking the facts! MA

Michael Williams, CNN

Fri, September 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM CDT·4 min read

9.2k

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday denounced Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s threats to pull ABC’s broadcast license as “unbelievably dangerous” and compared some of his rhetoric to “mafioso” tactics.

In an episode of his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” released on Friday, the Texas Republican said he was “thrilled” Jimmy Kimmel was pulled off the air by ABC over his comments about conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. But he said he strongly disagreed with the government policing speech, asserting it could come back to bite conservatives when Democrats retake power.

“I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said. I am thrilled that he was fired,” Cruz said. “But let me tell you: If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said. We’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.”

Though Carr’s comments have drawn widespread condemnation on the left, Cruz’s remarks represent one of the strongest denunciations of the threats against broadcasters by an elected conservative. Cruz also chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has broad authority over the F

“Going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again – wins the White House … they will silence us. They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous,” Cruz said.

Asked later by reporters on Capitol Hill if the Commerce Committee will hold hearings into the matter or investigate Carr if he continues in the same vein, Cruz left the door open to the possibility.

“There’s no doubt the Commerce Committee has oversight, authority and responsibility over the FCC, and when the Democrats had the majority, they did not engage in oversight … We will do our job and engage in oversight.”

President Donald Trump has also vaguely threatened to pull networks’ licenses if they air overwhelmingly negative coverage of him, though Cruz did not rebut the president’s remarks directly on the podcast.

Trump offered praise for Carr when pressed on the scathing remarks from the Texas Republican. “I think Brendan Carr is a great American patriot. So I disagree with Ted Cruz on that,” he said.

The president also continued to lament what he described as “dishonesty” from network broadcasts that are critical of him.

Cruz played recent remarks Carr made on far-right podcaster Benny Johnson’s podcast, in which the FCC chairman threatened to take action against broadcasters who don’t “find ways to change conduct” the government considers disagreeable.

“I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to change conduct, to take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or you know, there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” ABC pulled Kimmel’s show off the air indefinitely the day after Carr made those comments.

Responding to Carr’s comments, Cruz said: “No, no, no, no, no.”

“Look, look, I like Brendan Carr,” the senator said. “He’s a good guy. He’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him. But what he said there is dangerous as hell.”

“He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way.’ And I got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”

Cruz later added: “I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying, ‘We’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying.’”

“And it might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel,” the senator said. “But when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it.”

CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional details.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com


The past 10 years has provided a poor path to the United States we would all like to live in. The multiple wars where the “leaders” have all wanted to show their strength by defeating “enemies “in other countries. These actions have all been expensive in human life and money. Now we have a literal moron who has done nothing in his life other than swindle and steal his way to riches on the backs of anyone who gets in his way. Unfortunately, the national climate has allowed this ascension to the top job in the country with almost unchecked power.

The Legislature is so obsessed in having the ability to make the “rules”, they have forgotten what their jobs entail. The “stump” rhetoric is forgotten once the office is gained and too often the party line takes over for better or worse. Looking at some of the changes in the country from school curriculums to national themes, one should appreciate the gravity of an informed* voter base. There have been assassination attempts and successes that highlight the effect of the far sided opinions of our politics. The Post WWII national attitude of victory over tyrants has stagnated in a “them vs Us” aura that taints all of the progress made since the 1950’s .

It is well past time to start thinking in a normal manner where everyone can have their opinion with fear of retribution. It is the responsibility of each of us to sort the facts from the “crap” by broadening our intake of information. There is no” one size fits all” in information but like the everchanging view inside a kaleidoscope we must adapt and accept the information as it appears but with a dose of common sense.


Story by Ángeles Acosta • 2w • 3 min read

The Allure of Analog: Why Young People are Ditching Digital

For a generation raised on instant gratification and perfected social media feeds, film offers something different. It’s a deliberate, slow process that requires patience and a certain level of commitment. There’s no instant preview screen, no endless filters, and no easy do-overs. This constraint is, for many, the very essence of its appeal. The unique aesthetic—the grain, the light leaks, the authentic color shifts—is something digital simply can’t replicate. It’s a tangible memory, a physical object you can hold, share, and cherish. The excitement of dropping off a roll of film and the anticipation of seeing the developed photos is an experience many Gen Zers are discovering for the first time. They’re finding joy in the imperfections and the genuine, unedited moments that film captures. This analog renaissance is taking place not just in photography but in music as well, with vinyl record sales surging to their highest levels in decades.

Kodak’s Rocky Road: A Story of Innovation and Missed Opportunities

Kodak’s story is a classic tale of a giant brought low by its own hubris. For decades, the company was synonymous with photography. In fact, one of their own engineers, Steven Sasson, invented the world’s first digital camera in 1975. However, fearing that the new technology would cannibalize their lucrative film business, Kodak executives chose to sideline the invention.  This critical misstep opened the door for Japanese companies like Sony and Canon to dominate the burgeoning digital market. By the time Kodak finally embraced the digital transition, it was too little, too late. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012, shedding its consumer-focused operations and reinventing itself as a much smaller, business-to-business enterprise focusing on commercial printing and other industrial technologies.

The New Hope: A Second Chance for Film?

Today, the growing demand for film has presented Kodak with an unexpected second chance. The company is one of the few remaining major producers of photographic film, and this renewed interest has given them a lifeline. However, the path ahead is not without challenges. Kodak faces significant financial struggles, and while the company is reporting a modest increase in film sales, it’s a far cry from the glory days. Furthermore, the supply chain for film chemicals and paper is complex and fragile, and meeting the sudden spike in demand can be difficult. The cost of film and developing is also a barrier for many, making it a niche hobby rather than a mainstream activity.

The Future is Blurry (But Full of Potential)

While the renewed interest in film isn’t enough to make Kodak the powerhouse it once was, it provides a fascinating case study in how consumer trends can shift unexpectedly. The company is now in a unique position to capitalize on its legacy. By embracing its core strength—the production of high-quality film—Kodak can establish itself as a leader in this growing niche market. The challenge lies in balancing its legacy business with its more modern, industrial pursuits. For now, Gen Z’s love for all things vintage has given the old film giant a new lease on life, proving that some stories, even those told in black and white, are worth a second look.


By William Edwards

Aug 26, 2025, 4:45 AM CT

New disclosures show that President Trump has bought roughly $100 million of bonds since starting his term.

These purchases could gain from Fed rate cuts, benefiting Trump’s portfolio value.

The president has been pressuring the Fed for months to lower interest rates.

While President Donald Trump has grabbed headlines for his meme-stock holdings and forays into crypto, he’s also been steadily amassing a large stake in good, old-fashioned bonds.

This is according to a US Office of Government Ethics filing from August 19, which showed that Trump has made more than $100 million in bond purchases since starting his second term. The purchases span state, municipal, and corporate bonds with a wide range of maturity dates and yields.

While administration officials have said the transactions are managed completely independent of Trump, it’s still relatively unprecedented for an active president to be making these types of moves at all. He’s the first commander-in-chief in more than 50 years to not at least have personal holdings put into a blind trust while in office.

Given that bond prices normally rise when yields fall, any decline in the latter would increase the overall value of the president’s portfolio. Those yields are likely to decline if the Federal Reserve cuts rates — something Trump has not-so-subtly been imploring it to do for months.

A few caveats: The purchases make up a small portion of Trump’s net worth, which Forbes estimates at around $6 billion. It’s also unclear how Trump’s bond-purchase activity compares to previous periods when he wasn’t in office.

Overall, it’s difficult to know the exact degree to which Trump would benefit from reductions in the fed funds rate. The benchmark rate impacts short-duration yields the most, while factors like inflation impact longer-duration bonds more. Price action on long-duration bonds specifically in response to rate cuts can also be hard to measure because long-term rates can move in advance of cuts.

Trump has called for the central bank to slash rates by 300 basis points, to the 1.25%-to-1.5% range. He has repeatedly pressured Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut rates. But Powell has run his own race and stuck to the Fed’s internal calculus, even going as far as to say the potentially inflationary effect of Trump’s tariffs was part of the FOMC’s decision to keep rates unchanged at recent meetings.

Trump’s bonds — and the bond market overall — may not have much longer to wait for another rate cut. Investors are currently pricing in an 84% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction at the September Fed meeting, following a weak July jobs report that saw large downward revisions.

For his part, Powell appeared to open the door to a September rate cut during remarks at last week’s Jackson Hole Symposium. Upon the release of his prepared statement, stocks soared instantly, while government bond yields tumbled.


JB Pritzker; Charlie Sykes.

JB Pritzker; Charlie Sykes.

This is an adapted excerpt from the Aug. 26 episode of “Deadline: White House.”

On Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker fired back at Donald Trump after the president threatened to expand his federal takeover and send National Guard troops into Chicago, which he referred to as a “killing field.”

I urge people to read the transcript or watch the video of Pritzker’s speech, because frankly, that is the way it’s done.

Pritzker didn’t dismiss concerns about crime in the city. “Not one person here today will claim we have solved all crime in Chicago, nor can that be said of any major American metro area,” he said. Instead, the governor turned those concerns on Trump, listing the ways the president and his fellow Republicans have made Chicago less safe for its residents:

If Donald Trump was actually serious about fighting crime in cities like Chicago, he, along with his congressional Republicans, would not be cutting over $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants nationally, including cutting $158 million in funding to Illinois for violence prevention programs that deploy trained outreach workers to de-escalate conflict on our streets; cutting $71 million in law enforcement grants to Illinois, direct money for police departments through programs like Project Safe Neighborhoods, the State and Local Antiterrorism Training Program, and the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative; cutting $137 million in child protection measures in Illinois that protect our kids against abuse and neglect.

Pritzker put it succinctly: “Trump is defunding the police.”

Not only is that true, it’s great messaging — and Democrats should follow the governor’s lead. Democrats must make it clear to the American people that they take crime very seriously. But they also have to show voters what’s happening in Chicago and that what will likely happen in other Democratic-run cities across the country isn’t really about crime. It’s about the performative retribution of Trump — it’s about politics.

This is a president who is acting as if he has no limits. He is destroying constitutional guardrails and violating the norms of democracy almost daily. The question now is: How much damage can he do before he’s stopped?

One of the major problems that we’ve faced in dealing with Trump has been a failure of imagination. How far would he go? How bad could it get? What would he do with the unchecked powers of the presidency?

In real time, we are seeing what he is capable of doing. We’re seeing it play out in Washington, D.C., and we may soon see it in Chicago. Trump is giving us a brutal reality check about how fragile our constitutional republic really is.

Which brings me to another important line from Pritzker’s speech: “If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm, one that I hope every person listening will heed, both here in Illinois and across the country.”

We must understand the magnitude of the moment. All of this may feel like some sort of dystopian nightmare, but it is literally the times that we are living in, and every American must open their eyes and see what’s happening.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com


I am hoping the many people who reelected the current oval office resident are paying attention since they are most responsible for the extreme changes in our Democracy! The notion that he would make America Great Again is more like making America “Grate”. since he was played by the Russian strongman that he so wanted to emulate, the silence is deafening except for his sycophantic mouthpieces who in many cases shoot from the lip. If we are to survive this abominable administration, we must show up during the next election and get some real representatives who are brave enough to hold the line against his eccentricities.

There is no greater power than the power of a well-informed voter. Party is not a factor in these elections as all politicians lie! We can only determine who to elect by what they do. e.g. Ted Cruz who leaves town when crucial votes are needed- definitive no reelection!

The current atmosphere is reminiscent of the reconstruction era and the resulting mismanagement afterwards. Gold paint does not impart value to the object painted it just covers the dirt! Lest we forget the events of 1939 when one man convinced his countrymen that they were the superior race and we should govern all others. This brought about a massive buildup of war material which enriched the lives of the then downtrodden German populace while the “leader” plotted war plans on his neighbors. During that time a Russian dictator was busily committing pogroms and other crimes on their populace, these two menaces joined forces and began their “conquest” of the rest of Europe but notably the Russians did not actively join the “war” against Europe immediately but eagerly participated (against Germany) when the German warlord attacked his country.

All of this to show that we have a weak leader whose rhetoric is stronger (albeit) irrational than his abilities to deliver while having his every random thought published and often acted upon by his Cadre of staffers lead by the modern version of Joseph Goebbels (aka) Stephen Miller. It is within our power (voters) to make a correction in the upcoming election.


Tom Boggioni-Raw Story

State Representative Matt Morgan (R-TX) holds a map of the new proposed congressional districts in Texas, during a legislative session as Democratic lawmakers, who left the state to deny Republicans the opportunity to redraw the state’s 38 congressional districts, begin returning to the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 20, 2025. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Less than 24 hours after Texas Republicans shoved the redistricting plan across the finish line over Democratic objections, some GOP lawmakers are having a bit of buyer’s remorse that they may have gained some seats in U.S. House of Representatives but put others in play.

According to conservative journalist David Drucker, the plan was to give Republicans a shot at picking up an expected five House seats in the 2026 midterms, but the map, as now written, may put some other districts in play.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the Dispatch journalist was prompted by host Joe Scarborough with, “One of the main consequences I see from gerrymandering is you get the people in the safe seats, and I won’t even mention their names, but you get people in the safest seats, they say the most, especially in the Republican side, they say the most outrageous things, and they raise a ton of money. The more insulting, the more outrageous, the more vulgar, the crazier, the more insane they sound, because they’re safe in their district, the more money they raise nationwide, the more their profile goes up.”

According to Drucker, “Well, we’ve seen that over the past decade and a half, at least, because all the action, Joe is in the primaries, right? I mean, how often are we discussing a topic here? And you guys ask me, what do Republicans think, and my answer is usually they don’t want to rock the boat ahead of primary season, because the only place they’re going to have a competitive race is in a Republican primary.” After discussing the dilemma Democrats are facing, he added,” Look what’s happening now with the gerrymandering of seats … on the one hand, we could, in the short term have some more competitive districts, right? If you look at that Texas map, some is dark red, a lot of it is shaded light red. And that means if this atmosphere goes against the president and his party next year, I’ve had Republicans in Texas tell me they’re worried [that] instead of gaining five seats, you can have ten competitive seats, and you could end up losing seats