The world’s biggest auto show opens Wednesday in Shanghai, with foreign carmakers raring to show they can compete against the ultra-competitive Chinese firms that dominate the sector’s new electric frontier.As the petrol engine’s primacy stutters, traditional industry expos like Paris and Detroit are scrambling to re-invent themselves — but in Shanghai the era of cleaner engines and AI-powered operating systems will be very much on display already.The government’s historic backing of EV and hybrid development means China is now leading the charge in the sector.In 2024 EVs and hybrids made up 26 and 19 percent respectively of total car sales in the country, according to Inovev. “It’s the only country that manages to get the automobile sector’s industrial giants cohabiting with the innovation of a multitude of startups — operational excellence and (production) volume with innovation and daring,” Deloitte analyst Guillaume Crunelle told AFP. Auto Shanghai, which runs until May 2, will see a flurry of launches for electric, high-tech new models — luxury SUVs, saloons and multi-purpose vehicles — all designed and built in record time.Dozens of brands will take part, from state-owned behemoths to start-ups such as Li Auto and Xpeng, tech giants with skin in the game like Huawei, and consumer electronics-turned-car company Xiaomi.  Analysts consider the Chinese market, the world’s largest, younger-leaning and more open to novelty. But it is also fiercely cutthroat. Some start-ups have already gone bust, while brands including SAIC Motor, BYD and Geely are engaged in a brutal price war.   Reports that two of China’s largest state-owned auto enterprises are planning to merge, meanwhile, suggest the government is pushing companies to consolidate, eliminating inefficiencies to create new global leaders, analysts say.  “They are in a phase of rationalisation and simplification directed by the state,” Crunelle said. Many companies are also looking to expand overseas, in the hope increased sales in markets including Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America will safeguard their future. – German woes -Foreign carmakers have also found themselves caught out by the new market conditions, none more so than the Germans. After years of market domination in China, Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes have seen sales fall as domestic brands’ stars have risen. Volkswagen is hoping to bounce back at this year’s show with three vehicles developed in and for China, a first for the German group, as well as an advanced autonomous driving system.Volkswagen’s China chief Ralf Brandstatter told a German newspaper that foreign manufacturers still had a card to play in China, as Beijing is betting “once again more on foreign investment” as its economy slows.Faced with “an extreme price war”, the group had decided to “remain profitable” at the expense of sales and market share, he said Saturday. The group aims to revitalise itself through cost-cutting, helped by a partnership with China’s Xpeng.In Shanghai, German manufacturers will have to prove “they are at the cutting edge of innovation… if they want to even retain their current market share”, analyst Stefan Bratzel told AFP. It is already too late to regain their past market supremacy, he added, echoing comments made by former Porsche CFO Lutz Metschke.German carmakers cannot give up entirely on China, though, especially with looming uncertainty caused by Donald Trump’s threatened tariff rises on European countries. The US president’s policy has wreaked even more havoc on US-China trade, with the countries at an impasse over staggeringly high reciprocal duties. One of the biggest US companies active in China, Tesla, will not be attending Auto Shanghai, despite its two massive factories in the city. Elon Musk’s EV giant has not exhibited at a major car show in China since 2021, when a one-woman protest over an alleged brake failure went viral on social media. However, US brands including Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln will still present at the show, with most models on display produced and sold locally. 

An Indonesian soldier gives a thumbs up as he crosses a rice field on a combine harvester in remote Papua, where a government food security mega-project has raised fears of mass deforestation.Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region.But environmentalists warn it could become the world’s largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta’s climate commitments.And activists fear the scheme will fuel rights violations in a region long plagued by alleged military abuses as a separatist insurgency rumbles on.The project’s true scale is hard to ascertain; even government statements vary.At a minimum, however, it aims to plant several million hectares of rice and sugar cane across South Papua province’s Merauke. One million hectares is around the size of Lebanon.Deforestation linked to the plan is already under way.By late last year, more than 11,000 hectares had been cleared — an area larger than Paris — according to Franky Samperante of environmental and Indigenous rights NGO Yayasan Pusaka Bentala Rakyat.That figure has only increased, according to analysis by campaign group Mighty Earth and conservation start-up The TreeMap.Their work shows areas cleared include primary and secondary natural dryland and swamp forest, as well as secondary mangrove forest, savanna and bush.”Usually, deforestation is a product of government not doing its job,” said Mighty Earth chief executive Glenn Hurowitz.”But in this case, it’s actually the state saying we want to clear some of our last remaining forests, carbon-rich peatlands, habitat for rare animals,” he told AFP.Indonesia’s government says the land targeted is degraded, already cultivated or in need of “optimisation”, dismissing some areas as little more than swamps.- ‘Tragedy’ -Environmentalists argue that misunderstands the local ecosystem.”In South Papua, the landscape and the ecosystem is lowland forest,” said Samperante.”There are often misconceptions or even belittling” of these ecosystems, he added.Mapping done by Mighty Earth shows the project threatens a broader ecosystem range — including peatlands and forests the group says should be protected by a government moratorium on clearing.”The tragedy in this project,” said Hurowitz, “is that Indonesia has made so much progress in breaking the link between agricultural expansion and deforestation.””Unfortunately, this single project threatens to undermine all progress.”Indonesia has some of the world’s highest deforestation rates and Papua retains some of the largest remaining untouched tracts.Indonesian think-tank CELIOS says cutting down so much forest could derail Jakarta’s plan to reach net-zero by 2050.For President Prabowo Subianto’s government, criticism of the project ignores Indonesia’s agricultural and economic realities.He has made the scheme a priority, visiting soon after taking office.In January, he said the country was on track to end rice imports by late 2025, and reiterated its energy independence needs.The agriculture ministry did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.In Papua, planting is in full swing. In the region’s Kaliki district, AFP saw farmers supported by soldiers tending rice paddies in recently-cleared land.”This location used to be like the one on the right here. Non-productive and neglected land,” said Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani, a soldier serving as the agriculture ministry’s food resilience taskforce chief, at an event lauding the project.That characterisation is disputed by Mighty Earth’s satellite analysis, which found that at least two areas in the region cleared for rice overlap with government-designated peatland.Indonesia’s military is heavily involved in the project.Local farmer Yohanis Yandi Gebze told AFP soldiers gave him “tools, agricultural equipment and machinery” for rice cultivation.Speaking not far from Ramdhani’s event, he praised the military.”I see them cooperating with the people very well,” he said.- ‘Cannot refuse’ -Others say that is only part of the story. Indonesia officially seized Papua, a former Dutch colony, in a widely criticised but UN-backed vote in 1969.It has since been accused of abuses in a decades-long separatist conflict in the region.”The community feels intimidated,” said Dewanto Talubun, executive director at Merauke-based environmental and rights group Perkumpulan Harmoni Alam Papuana.”Not all members of the community agree with this project, and they cannot directly refuse,” he told AFP.Samperante too reported local fears.”Almost every day a human rights violation occurs,” he said.The defence ministry told AFP the military had the resources and “high discipline” to accelerate the food project while securing “stability and security” in the region.However, there are significant doubts about the project’s viability.”Soils in Merauke are likely too acidic and the climate too extreme… to grow rice,” said David Gaveau, founder of The TreeMap.He warned that draining Merauke’s wetlands for agriculture risks turning the area “into a tinder box” — a fate seen elsewhere in Indonesia.Critics do not dispute Jakarta’s food security needs, but said crops should be grown elsewhere on abandoned agricultural land.”It should be done in places that are capable of absorbing it,” said Hurowitz.”Without destroying Indonesia’s gorgeous, beautiful natural heritage and community lands.”

Bullion hit another record Tuesday while the dollar steadied and equities mostly fell as Donald Trump’s latest salvo against Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell added fuel to fears about the central bank’s independence.With the US tariff blitz still causing ructions on global trading floors, investors are now dealing with the added worry that the US president will try to remove the country’s top banker that many fear could hammer already fragile market confidence.Trump took a swipe at Powell last week for his warning that the sweeping levies would likely reignite inflation, saying his “termination cannot come fast enough” and adding that “I’m not happy with him. I let him know it and if I want him out, he’ll be out of there real fast, believe me”.While that raised eyebrows, the Republican tycoon sent shivers through markets Monday by calling on the Fed boss again to make pre-emptive cuts to interest rates and calling him a “major loser” and “Mr. Too Late”.He said on his Truth Social platform that there was “virtually” no inflation as energy and food costs were well down and pointed to the several reductions by the European Central Bank.The outbursts have fanned concern that Trump is preparing to oust Powell, with top economic adviser Kevin Hassett saying Friday the president was looking at whether he could do so.Panicked Wall Street investors once again dumped US assets, with all three main indexes ending down around 2.5 percent on Monday.”The first volley on Thursday had little market reaction, but Monday’s second barrage has seen an intensification of the ‘sell America trade’,” said National Australia Bank’s Tapas Strickland.”Whether or not President Trump is legally able and willing to move against the US Fed, the jousting underscores the loss of US exceptionalism and the very real policy risk for investors.”The rush for safety saw gold hit yet another record above $3,457, and while the dollar steadied after the previous day’s selloff, it remained under pressure against its major peers.Stocks swung between gains and losses on the first full day of business after the Easter break.Hong Kong, Sydney, Taipei, Jakarta, Wellington and Manila dropped, while Shanghai, Singapore and Seoul edged up.However, analysts warned of another rout if Trump were to try to fire the Fed boss, which many said could cause a crisis of confidence in the US economy.”Were Powell to be fired, the initial reaction would be a huge injection of volatility into financial markets, and the most dramatic rush to the exit from US assets that it is possible to imagine,” said Pepperstone strategist Michael Brown. “Lower, much lower, equities; Treasuries sold across the board; and, the dollar falling off a cliff. “Any sign of the longstanding, independent nature of the Fed coming under threat would see investors across the globe selling every single US-based asset that they have, and also poses the genuinely scary prospect of upending the entire way in which the global financial system operates.”- Key figures at 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 34,255.71 (break)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,301.74Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.3 percent at 21,330.37Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1500 from $1.1510 on MondayPound/dollar: UP $1.3384 at $1.3377Dollar/yen: DOWN at 140.76 yen from 140.89 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.91 pence from 86.03 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.0 percent at $63.73 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $66.75 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 2.5 percent at 38,170.41 (close)London – FTSE 100: Closed for a holiday

The humble pinata has become one of the latest targets to take a whacking in US President Donald Trump’s trade war.Party store owner Patricia Loperena said she has supplied fewer parties this year than last, which means she is selling fewer of the colorful candy-filled papier mache favors at her southern California establishment.Another blow to Loperena’s business? The rising cost of the raw materials to make trinkets and custom pinatas, a traditional game of Latino children’s parties that are now popular in much of the United States.”People stop spending. Instead of, like, making a bigger party, they make it a lot smaller,” the 45-year-old told AFP.Prices are jumping, and that has customers on edge. “They just know there’s a lot of unpredictability, and they just want to be cautious,” she said.They are spending less overall because of jitters over how Trump’s policies will unfold.Loperena is worried about Trump’s new tariffs, too — especially the outright trade war underway with China.To adjust and help protect Ollin Party Store in this Los Angeles suburb, Loperena has already placed supply orders early to get ahead of the tariffs and build up inventory.That may help keep her prices stable for a few months but Loperena’s supplier — based in the United States, selling imported products — has already warned that the next order will be pricier.Most of the napkins, plates, balloons and other goods in her store are labeled “Made in China.”- Going to ‘get worse’-  Some might say tariff policy has been a pinata-esque moving target under Trump — chaotic swings followed by an economy that has taken a beating. On what he called “Liberation Day” in early April, Trump dramatically hiked levies globally, standing with a chart of country-specific tariff rates to announce a new era. He threatened allies and close trading partners like Canada and Mexico. Then he slapped tariffs on much of the world, including triple digit ones against China. Trump has since lessened many of the immediate levies to 10 percent, saying a 90-day suspension was needed to negotiate.That leaves American business owners dangling in suspense to see what happens next. In the San Fernando Valley, many small businesses like Loperena’s were already struggling to compete with online outlets.Service providers and retailers all depend on imports to one extent or another, for parts or products.”Everything comes from overseas, from China, Taiwan and stuff,” said Angel De Luna, who runs a store that sells sewing machines and vacuum cleaners.For this 28-year-old taking over his father’s shop, which survives not so much on sales but on repairing and servicing appliances people already own, the tariffs are shaping up to be the last straw.”We’re just hanging in there the best we can,” said De Luna. “But it’s probably going to get worse.”- Many enemies – The service sector is not immune either to Trump’s trade war, and neither are his supporters. While the president says he is fighting unfair trading practices to erase trade deficits, many are bracing for bad economic news.OJ Longmire, 46, owns a popular barbershop and beauty parlor in the valley and says tariffs hurt him too.”It definitely affects us all. You know, supplies, everything here on my station. Clippers. I don’t believe this is American made,” he said, pointing to the equipment, gels and lotions he works with to do people’s hair.Marcos Ochoa, owner of a small hardware and gardening products store, said people are “going crazy” with tariff uncertainty.”Because we don’t know what to expect. You don’t know if you’re going to buy at higher prices,” said Ochoa.Ochoa, who imports his products mainly from Japan and Europe, said his costs have not yet risen and it is too early to say what the future holds.But he has advice for Trump.”He needs to stop and think what he’s gonna say or what he’s gonna do before he acts, like, automatically,” said Ochoa.He voted for Trump in the belief it would be good for business. Now, he has his doubts.”He was good four years ago,” Ochoa said. “Now I don’t know. He’s making a lot of enemies, that’s for sure.”