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They said they had smashed them. But fraud factories in Myanmar blamed for scamming Chinese and American victims out of billions of dollars are still in business and bigger than ever, an AFP investigation can reveal.Satellite images and AFP drone footage show frenetic building work in the heavily guarded compounds around Myawaddy on the Thailand-Myanmar border, which appear to be using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service on a huge scale.Experts say most of the centres, notorious for their romance scams and “pig butchering” investment cons, are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias in the lawless badlands of the Golden Triangle.China, Thailand and Myanmar pressured the militias into vowing to “eradicate” the compounds in February, releasing around 7,000 people from a brutal call centre-like system that runs on greed, human trafficking and violence.Freed workers from Asia, Africa and elsewhere showed AFP journalists the scars and bruises of beatings they said were inflicted by their bosses.They said they had been forced to work around the clock, trawling for victims for a plethora of phone and internet scams.Sun, a Chinese national who was sold between several compounds, was able to give AFP a rare insider’s account after being freed with Beijing’s help.But a senior Thai police official said after the crackdown began that up to 100,000 people may still toil in the compounds — often mini cities surrounded by barbed wire fences and armed guards — that have sprung up on the border with Myanmar since the Covid pandemic.Satellite images show rapid construction work resuming at several compounds only weeks after the crackdown. Flocks of Starlink satellite dishes soon began to cover many scam centre roofs after Thailand cut their internet and power connections.Nearly 80 Starlink dishes are visible on one roof alone in AFP photographs of one of the biggest compounds, KK Park.Starlink — which is not licensed in Myanmar — did not have enough traffic to make it onto the list of the country’s internet providers before February.It is now consistently the biggest, topping the ranking every day from July 3 until October 1, according to data from the Asian regional internet registry, APNIC.It first appeared at number 56 in late April.California prosecutors officially warned Starlink in July 2024 that its satellite system was being used by the fraudsters, but received no response. Worried Thai and US politicians have also conveyed their alarm to Musk, with Senator Maggie Hassan calling on him to act.Now the powerful US Congress Joint Economic Committee, on which she is a leading member, has told AFP it has begun an investigation into Starlink’s involvement with the centres.SpaceX, which owns Starlink, did not reply to AFP requests for comment.Erin West, a longtime US cybercrime prosecutor who resigned last year to campaign full-time for action, said “it is abhorrent that an American company is enabling this to happen”.Americans are among the top targets of the Southeast Asian scam syndicates, the US Treasury Department said, losing an estimated $10 billion last year, up 66 percent in 12 months.- Buildings shooting up -The building boom since the crackdown is “breathtaking”, West said. Satellite images show what appear to be office and dormitory blocks shooting up in many of the estimated 27 scam centres in the Myawaddy cluster, strung out along a winding stretch of the Moei River, which forms the frontier with Thailand.A whole new section of KK Park has sprung up in seven months. The security checkpoint at its main entrance has also been hugely expanded, with a new access road and roundabout added.At least five new ferry crossings across the Moei have also appeared to supply the centres from the Thai side, satellite images show.They include one serving Shwe Kokko, which the US Treasury calls a “notorious hub for virtual currency investment scams” under the protection of the Karen National Army, a militia affiliated with Myanmar’s junta.Last month, the US sanctioned nine people and companies connected to Shwe Kokko and the Chinese criminal kingpin She Zhijiang, founder of the multistorey Yatai New City centre. Construction work in Shwe Kokko has also continued apace.The borderlands where Myanmar, Thailand, China and Laos meet — known as the Golden Triangle — has long been a hotbed of opium and amphetamine production, drug trafficking, smuggling, illegal gambling and money laundering.Corruption and the power vacuum created by civil war in Myanmar have allowed organised crime groups to dramatically expand their scam operations.Southeast Asian scam operations conned people in the wider region out of $37 billion in 2023, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which said the gangs ruled the centres with an iron fist.Many workers extracted from the compounds in February said they were trafficked through Thailand and beaten and tortured into working as scammers. Others said they were lured by false promises of well-paid jobs. However, experts and NGOs said some also go willingly.Beijing pushed authorities in Myanmar and Thailand to crack down in February after Chinese actor Wang Xing said he was lured to Thailand for a fake casting and trafficked into a scam centre in Myanmar.Last month, China sentenced to death 11 members of a scam syndicate that operated just over the border with Myanmar, with five more given suspended death penalties.AFP has been able to build up a picture of the murky world of the centres and the overlapping militias who guard them after months of investigation. It is a ruthless industry full of slippery characters willing to sell people into the compounds or broker their release — for the right price.- Inside the compounds: Sun’s story -Sun — a pseudonym AFP is using to protect his identity — is one of thousands of Chinese people swallowed up by the scam factories.The soft-spoken young villager from the mountains of southwestern Yunnan province told AFP how he and other workers were repeatedly beaten with electric rods and whips if they slacked or did not follow orders.”Almost everyone inside had been beaten at some point… either for refusing to work or trying to get out,” he said.But with high fences, watchtowers and armed guards, “there was no way to leave”, until he was released with 5,400 other Chinese nationals since the February crackdown.Sun’s testimony is a rare insight into the internal workings of the centres, as he was sold on between several when bosses realised that a slight physical disability limited his usefulness.AFP journalists managed to talk to him as he was being released and later on the phone, as well as back in his poor, isolated village.Sun said his trouble began in June 2024, when he left his home some 100 kilometres (60 miles) across the mountains from Myanmar.With one child already and another on the way, the 25-year-old wanted to provide for his family and had heard there was money to be made selling Chinese goods online through Thailand.”I heard it was very profitable,” he told AFP.The trip turned into a nightmare in the Thai border city of Mae Sot, where Sun said he was abducted and taken over the slow river that divides it from Myanmar’s Myawaddy and its infamous scam centres.He said he was “terrified. I kept begging them on my knees to let me go.”Once in Myawaddy, he said, his plight quickly worsened.Sun said he was brought to a militia camp where he was sold for 650,000 Thai baht ($20,000) to a scam centre — the first of several such transactions.There, he was ordered to do online exercises to speed up his typing. Sun, however, had a problem: a deformed finger that slowed him down and drew the ire of his overseers.The disability, verified by AFP, meant he was repeatedly sold on to other compounds and given menial tasks.But in the last facility — bristling with high fences and gun-toting guards — he got a taste of the real work, sending unsolicited messages to scam targets in the United States.Once the victims were on the hook, he said, he passed the target on to a more specialised scammer who would continue the conversation.Experts confirmed that many Chinese-run compounds split the workforce according to their scamming ability.The centres also provide workers with detailed scripts on how to bait their targets.One 25-page text seen by AFP suggested workers adopt the persona of “Abby”, a lovesick 35-year-old Japanese woman. It advised them to build a romantic rapport with the target.”I feel we are so destined,” the document suggests Abby could say.- Murky business -Much about the industry is opaque, mirroring China and Thailand’s complex relations with Myanmar’s military regime and various rebel and junta-allied groups, many of whom profit from the illegal mining, logging and drug manufacturing going on amid the war there.Scam centre staff run the “whole gamut”, from expendable grunts held in slave-like conditions to skilled programmers working for high salaries, said veteran Myanmar expert David Scott Mathieson, a former Human Rights Watch monitor.Chinese authorities are treating those like Sun who were brought out in February as “suspects” who may have ventured knowingly into war-torn Myanmar.AFP verified key pillars of his story, consulting several experts on the centres. But other portions were harder to confirm — with Thai authorities not providing information, and Chinese officials tailing our reporters and impeding efforts to talk further with him.AFP journalists were followed by multiple unmarked cars while travelling to see Sun in his mountain village, three hours from the nearest city, Lincang.Minutes after AFP met with him, a flurry of officials arrived to “check up” on his welfare. When Sun returned after half an hour, he declined to speak further.- The double sting -In the weeks before his extraction, Sun wondered if he would ever be able to escape the drudgery, threats and violence of the scam centres. “I thought about the possibility (of dying)… almost every day,” he told AFP.AFP obtained a copy of a “work contract” from one centre forbidding staff from chatting or leaving their posts, and giving managers the right to “educate” workers who violate the rules.China has warned its citizens for years about cyber fraud — from the scams themselves to jobs posted online that lure people into the compounds.But a steady stream of Chinese people still disappear into them, prompting desperate searches from loved ones — searches that expose them to another whole level of scams and fraudsters.Fang, a woman from northwestern China’s Gansu province, told AFP her 22-year-old brother, a school dropout, vanished in February in Yunnan, which borders Myanmar.He was likely under “financial pressure” and had travelled to Xishuangbanna, near the Golden Triangle border with Myanmar and Laos, for a job smuggling goods like watches and gold into China, Fang said.Fang said she is now convinced her brother was enticed there and trafficked into Myanmar, with phone records indicating his last known location in the Wa region, home to the country’s biggest and best-equipped ethnic armed group.Like other relatives, she said she felt anxious despite appealing to Chinese authorities for help.”He’s the youngest child in the family,” she said. “My grandmother, who is in the late stages of cancer… cries at home every day.”- ‘Snakeheads’ -Most Chinese scam workers cannot bank on Beijing’s efforts alone to get out.Instead, they may have to pay a ransom that can expose people to the same murky networks that supply the centres in the first place.Fang said she had joined several groups on the Chinese messaging app WeChat filled with dozens of people searching for relatives who disappeared near the Myanmar border.She said she had been approached on social media by self-styled private “rescuers” who claimed to be able to extract people trapped in the compounds.AFP contacted more than a dozen such rescuers advertising their services on Chinese social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Kuaishou.Many seemed to have worked in compounds themselves or touted links to smugglers.They said they could tap underground networks of compound staff, Chinese fugitives and “snakeheads” — smugglers with ties to multiple centres — to track the person and broker their release.Most quoted ransoms equivalent to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on which centre the worker was in and if they owed money to the scam syndicate.Some claimed to take no money for themselves. Others were open about their fees, saying a network of fixers would also get a cut.One self-styled fixer, Li Chao, said he earned thousands of yuan (hundreds of dollars) per month arranging rescues in Cambodia — another major fraud and money-laundering hub — scoping out compounds and whisking away escapees in rental cars.The job was lucrative, but “there are risks for me too”, he told AFP.- Rescuers ‘just another scam’ -Ling Li, a modern slavery researcher who operates an anti-trafficking NGO, said the shadowy private rescue sector made her work freeing workers more “complicated”.Her organisation helps families search for workers in Myanmar and Cambodia, contacting police and negotiating ransoms.She told AFP that many online “rescuers” were either scammers themselves or charged wild sums for extractions that often never materialised.Families “can easily be cheated by opportunists”, she said.Fang said some handed over thousands of yuan without success. The rescuers “claim to have connections… but in reality, it’s just (another) scam”, she said.Release came for Sun on February 12, after Thailand cut power to scam-ridden parts of Myanmar.That morning, as he was repairing phones, an armed group arrived, piled him and dozens of others into pickup trucks and drove them to a militia camp.Within hours, he was on a ferry back into Thailand. “I never imagined… that I would be rescued so suddenly,” he told AFP.Ten days later, he was put on a plane to the Chinese city of Nanjing — flanked by police officers.Sun was one of thousands rounded up in the joint operation between Beijing, Thailand and local Myanmar militias — the Border Guard Forces (BGF) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), former ethnic-Karen rebel groups now allied with the Burmese army.They are two of several, often overlapping, militias operating around Myawaddy.The scammers operate in a “highly permissive environment… with permission from junta-affiliated Burmese militia”, concluded a report last month by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.The think tank, which is partly funded by Australia’s defence ministry, noted that while fighting between rival militia groups often rages near the centres, they are reportedly never hit, so as not to endanger the “pure profits available through the scamming industry”.AFP sought comment from the BGF, but they did not respond.The report’s author, Nathan Ruser, told AFP it was “shocking” that syndicates have been given “such a permanent, established infrastructure” for smuggling “construction materials, goods and the trafficking of people”.- ‘Like an enemy state’ -China has said its clampdowns show its “resolute” commitment to stamping out the scammers, but Ruser and other experts say they only temporarily disrupt the syndicates.”As long as the (military) junta (in Myanmar) enables and fuels this industry, I think it’s only ever going to be a game of cat and mouse,” Ruser said.New ones will simply “pop up elsewhere”, he added.Sun insisted he was forced into the compounds and never tricked anyone into handing over money.Traumatised, exhausted and still on bail, he said he found the “mental burden” of his ordeal hard to bear.Beijing has not said how it plans to deal with the freed workers. Experts said many of them try to play down their role to avoid punishment.But Chinese society has scant sympathy, regardless of whether they are brutalised victims of trafficking, said researcher Ling Li. “People will judge you for being greedy and stupid.”Governments, however, have been “insanely negligent” about the gravity of the problem, warned cybercrime expert Erin West.”A generation’s worth of wealth is being stolen from us,” she said.”I don’t know how we shut this down. It is way too big now, like an enemy state.”isk-mjw-sjc-nlc-fg/jhb

US President Donald Trump’s fresh tariffs on imported wood, furniture and kitchen cabinets took effect Tuesday, a development likely to fuel building costs and pile pressure on homebuyers in an already challenging market.The duties were imposed to boost US industries and protect national security, according to the White House, and they broaden a slate of sector-specific tariffs Trump has imposed since returning to the presidency.The latest salvo features a 10-percent tariff on imports of softwood lumber, while duties on certain upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets start at 25 percent.Come January 1, the rate on imported upholstered furniture is set to rise to 30 percent, while those on kitchen cabinets and vanities will jump to 50 percent.But duties on wood products from Britain will not exceed 10 percent, and those from the European Union and Japan face a 15-percent ceiling. All three trading partners have reached deals with the Trump administration to avert harsher duties.But the new tariffs will “create additional headwinds for an already challenged housing market by further raising construction and renovation costs,” warned National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) chairman Buddy Hughes.US home sales have been gloomy in recent years with high mortgage rates and limited inventory pushing costs up for buyers.In imposing the latest duties, Trump said the Commerce Secretary found that “wood products are used in critical functions of the Department of War, including building infrastructure for operational testing.”Trump’s proclamation added that US wood production “remains underdeveloped,” leaving the country import-dependent.But NAHB’s Hughes said: “Imposing these tariffs under a ‘national security’ pretext ignores the importance housing plays to the physical and economic security of all Americans.”He urged for deals that instead “roll back tariffs on building materials.”- Canada, Vietnam hit? -Canada, the top supplier of lumber to the United States, is set to be impacted.The 10-percent lumber tariff stacks on anti-dumping and countervailing duties the country faces, and the United States recently more than doubled these to 35 percent.This means that Trump’s latest action brings duties on Canadian lumber to 45 percent.The BC Lumber Trade Council, which represents British Columbian lumber producers in Canada on trade matters, in September called the new tariffs “misguided and unnecessary.””This will impose needless strain on the North American market, threaten jobs on both sides of the border, and make it harder to address the housing supply crisis in the United States,” the council added.Stephen Brown of Capital Economics told AFP that with 30 percent of lumber sourced from abroad, a 10-percent tariff could raise the cost of building an average home by $2,200.Brown added that China, Vietnam and Mexico account for the bulk of US furniture imports.”The US gets 27 percent of its furniture imports from China and then almost 20 percent from both Vietnam and Mexico,” he told AFP.He expects Vietnam could face the biggest impact “as furniture makes up 10 percent of its exports to the US.”The corresponding figures are smaller at four percent for China and 2.5 percent for Mexico.The tariffs were imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the same authority Trump used to roll out steel, aluminum and auto duties this year.Products subject to sector-specific tariffs are not doubly hit by countrywide levels that Trump has separately imposed, which are in some cases higher.

Most Asian stocks rose Tuesday, tracking a rally on Wall Street, after Donald Trump tempered his rhetoric against China, which he has threatened with 100 percent tariffs, while Tokyo struggled amid Japanese political turmoil.Still, safe-haven metals continued to push higher — helping silver join gold in touching records — fuelled by expectations for more US interest rate cuts, worries about rising debt and warnings that an AI-stoked global rally could be overdone.The US president sent shivers through markets Friday when he lashed out at Beijing over its curbs on rare earths, which fuelled fears he was reigniting their trade war after months of a tentative truce.But he shifted his tone by Sunday, insisting in a social media post that “it will all be fine”, and adding that he wanted to “help” China.That was enough for traders to return to the market, with the Nasdaq soaring more than two percent and S&P 500 and Dow each up more than one percent Monday, taking a huge bite out of Friday’s losses.Asia tried to follow suit following Monday’s retreat, which had been tempered by Trump’s more conciliatory comments.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei and Manila all rose, though Wellington and Jakarta dropped.”Given the recent rally, positioning was stretched (and) any bad news is a cue to sell risk…which indicates the market is looking for an excuse for a selloff,” said Neil Wilson of Saxo markets.”The extent of the selling could be the cue for the last bears to throw in the towel.”Still, tech firms remain in high demand, with the latest impetus for buying coming after chip giant Broadcom formed a partnership with OpenAI to provide 10 gigawatts in computing power.The deal came after OpenAI signed deals involving huge investments in data centres and AI chips with US companies Nvidia, AMD and Oracle, as well as with South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix.Tokyo returned from a long weekend with losses, as lingering tariff worries compound political uncertainty in Japan where the ruling coalition collapsed Friday as junior partner Komeito quit the alliance.The move raised questions about whether Sanae Takaichi — who became the ruling party’s leader this month — will be able to take the reins as the country’s first woman prime minister.Stocks had surged after her election on hopes she will unveil fresh stimulus measures and push for looser monetary policies.It was reported at the weekend that Komeito will seek to support a unified candidate with other groups in a bid to block Takaichi — who needs approval from parliament — from becoming premier. In commodity trade, silver struck a record $52.90 as investors sought other safe havens as gold continued to chalk up successive peaks of its own. The yellow metal hit a new high of nearly $4,150.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2 percent at 47,520.57 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 25,955.27 Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,910.17Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1571 from $1.1568 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3343 from $1.3332Dollar/yen: UP at 152.42 yen from 152.31 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.72 pence from 86.77 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $59.75 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $63.56 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,067.58 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,442.87 (close)

Wall Street stocks rebounded Monday from steep pre-weekend falls as US President Donald Trump softened his posture on China following earlier threats of large tariffs.European stock markets made modest gains while Asia’s leading stock markets began the week in the red as they caught up with Wall Street’s sharp losses Friday. Gold reached a fresh record high thanks to its status as a safe haven investment.”Things have calmed down almost as dramatically as the flare up on Friday when Donald Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs on China,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.Trump, who on Friday announced “massive” tariffs due to Chinese curbs on rare earths exports, backed off that stance, saying in a Sunday social media post “it will all be fine,” and adding that the United States wants to “help” China.Major Wall Street indices that fell hard on Friday recovered a large chunk of their losses after Trump’s weekend pivot.”Trump came back and made it very clear that everything is going to be fine with China,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments. “This looks like a relief rally.”The tech-rich Nasdaq led major US indices with a 2.2 percent gain, while the Dow piled on around 630 points to finish up 1.4 percent.”To be blunt, this is just such nonsense — the heaving to and fro on social media posts — but it is what it is, and the stock market seems to be fine playing the part of the puppet,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”Friday’s price action exposed how vulnerable market pricing is to developments that threaten the rose-colored outlook embedded in premium valuations,” he added.Chip giant Broadcom was a standout on Monday, soaring almost 10 percent after announcing a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI that would provide 10 gigawatts in computing power, the firms said.In the past few weeks, under the leadership of CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI has signed deals involving huge investments in data centers and AI chips with US companies Nvidia, AMD, and Oracle, as well as with South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix.Earnings season gets underway in earnest this week, with reports from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and other financial heavyweights on Tuesday.The IMF and World Bank’s semi-annual gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors also began in Washington on Monday.- Key figures at around 2010 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,067.58 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 1.5 percent at 6,654.72 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 2.0 percent at 22,694.61 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,442.87 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,934.26 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.6 percent at 24,387.93 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 25,889.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,889.50 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1568 from $1.1619 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3332 from $1.3360Dollar/yen: UP at 152.31 yen from 151.59 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.77 pence from 86.98 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.9 percent at $63.32 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.0 percent at $59.49 per barrelburs-jmb/ksb

Wall Street stocks rebounded Monday after heavy pre-weekend falls as US President Donald Trump reignited his trade war with China. European stock markets made modest gains while Asia’s leading stock markets began the week in the red as they caught up with Wall Street’s sharp losses Friday. Gold reached a fresh record high thanks to its status as a safe haven investment.”Things have calmed down almost as dramatically as the flare up on Friday when Donald Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs on China,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.Trump wrote Friday on social media that he would impose an additional 100-percent tariff on China and threatened to cancel a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.The US president had been to meet Xi at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit later this month, which was to be their first encounter since Trump returned to power in January.The US president cited Beijing’s export curbs on rare earth minerals used in a range of goods including smartphones, electric vehicles and military hardware.Wall Street’s Nasdaq index plunged 3.6 percent following Trump’s comments, with investors also on edge over worries about a tech stock bubble following a recent surge on massive AI investments.Beijing accused Washington of acting unfairly, and the Ministry of Commerce said Sunday: “Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China.”But Trump took a more conciliatory tone Sunday.”Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!,” the US president said in a post on his Truth Social account. Trump’s comments helped shift sentiment, with the dollar perking up and US stocks futures rebounding.”To be blunt, this is just such nonsense — the heaving to and fro on social media posts — but it is what it is, and the stock market seems to be fine playing the part of the puppet,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.”Friday’s price action exposed how vulnerable market pricing is to developments that threaten the rose-coloEurred outlook embedded in premium valuations,” he added.The latest spat follows months of fragile peace between the economic superpowers as they looked to reach a full trade deal after Trump’s tariff bombshell in April that saw both sides ramp up tit-for-tat levies to eye-watering levels.Meanwhile, shares in chip giant Broadcom jumped 10 percent after OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced it is teaming up with the firm to design and build its own specialised computer processors for artificial intelligence.”Broadcom has been talked about as a worthy member of the club of tech mega caps, and today’s deal with OpenAI cements its position as one of the real movers in the sector,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG.”The news comes at just the right time after the knock to sentiment on Friday, reminding investors that the race for computing power is still on, and if anything is intensifying,” he added.In the past few weeks, under the leadership of CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI has signed huge investments in data centres and AI chips with US companies Nvidia and AMD, as well as with South Korea’s Samsung and SK hynix.The deals have boosted the prices of tech stocks and help push the Nasdaq to record highs.- Key figures at around 1530 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.3 percent at 46,083.63 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 1.5 percent at 6,650.90New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 2.0 percent at 22,640.68London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,442.87 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,934.26 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.6 percent at 24,387.93 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 25,889.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,889.50 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1569 from $1.1615 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3328 from $1.3352Dollar/yen: UP at 152.32 yen from 151.57 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.80 pence from 86.98 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.5 percent at $63.67 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.7 percent at $59.90 per barrelburs-rl/cw

European stock markets rebounded slightly Monday after heavy pre-weekend falls as US President Donald Trump reignited his trade war with China. Asia’s leading stock markets, catching up with sharp losses Friday on Wall Street, began the week in the red, while gold reached a fresh record high thanks to its status as a safe haven investment.Trump wrote on social media that he would impose an additional 100-percent tariff on China and threatened to cancel a summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.The US president cited Beijing’s export curbs on rare earth minerals used in a range of goods including smartphones, electric vehicles and military hardware.Trump presented a more conciliatory tone Sunday when he described Xi as “respected”, helping to lift the dollar.”European equities are trading higher… (in) a relief rally after the violent swings seen on Friday,” noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at traders Scope Markets.”The breakdown in US-China relations simply adds to the ongoing narrative around US instability, with the government shutdown rolling on towards its third week,” he added.Wall Street’s Nasdaq index plunged 3.6 percent Friday, with investors on edge also over a recent tech-led surge that has stoked fears of a stock bubble.However, investors took a little heart from a post Sunday in which Trump said “The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”, adding that “respected President Xi… doesn’t want Depression for his country”.Beijing accused Washington of acting unfairly, and the Ministry of Commerce said Sunday: “Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China.”It follows months of fragile peace between the economic superpowers as they looked to reach a full trade deal after Trump’s tariff bombshell in April that saw both sides ramp up tit-for-tat levies to eye-watering levels.One of the winners of this year’s Nobel economics prize, France’s Philippe Aghion, warned Europe that it must not let the United States and China dominate technological innovation.”I think European countries have to realise that we should no longer let the US and China become technological leaders and lose to them,” Aghion told reporters Monday.The prize was awarded also to American-Israeli Joel Mokyr and Canada’s Peter Howitt for work on technology’s impact on sustained economic growth.The week kicked off with price recoveries for bitcoin and oil.The cryptocurrency tumbled over the weekend following Trump’s tough talk on China, while crude futures reversed big losses caused by the Israel-Hamas peace deal.- Key figures at around 1045 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,431.77 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,948.52Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.4 percent at 24,342.12Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 25,889.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,889.50 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holidayNew York – Dow: DOWN 1.9 percent at 45,479.60 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1587 from $1.1615 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3337 from $1.3352Dollar/yen: UP at 152.13 yen from 151.57 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.88 pence from 86.98 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.6 percent at $63.71 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.8 percent at $59.93 per barrel

Asian markets slipped Monday after US President Donald Trump reignited his trade war with Beijing by threatening last week to impose 100 percent tariffs on goods from China.However, the losses were tempered slightly by a more conciliatory tone on Sunday when Trump described Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as “respected”.Trump wrote on social media Friday that he would impose an additional 100 percent tariff on China and threatened to cancel a summit with Xi, citing Beijing’s export curbs on rare earth minerals used in a range of goods including smartphones, electric vehicles and military hardware.The extra US levies, plus export controls on “any and all critical software” would come into effect from November 1 in retaliation for what he called Beijing’s “extraordinarily aggressive” moves.”There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive’,” he said.Chinese products currently face US tariffs of 30 percent, while Beijing’s retaliatory tolls are currently at 10 percent.The outburst sent Wall Street into a spiral, with the Nasdaq losing more than three percent, and came as investors were already on edge over a recent tech-led surge that has stoked fears of a stock bubble.However, investors took a little heart from a post Sunday in which Trump said “The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” and added that “respected President Xi (Jinping)… doesn’t want Depression for his country.”Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of acting unfairly, and the Ministry of Commerce on Sunday called the threat a “typical example of ‘double standards'”.”Threatening high tariffs at every turn is not the right approach to engaging with China,” it said in an online statement.The announcement came after months of fragile peace between the economic superpowers as they looked to reach a full trade deal after Trump’s tariff bombshell in April that saw the two sides ramp up tit-for-tat levies to eye-watering levels.”The question now is what comes next. That is, of course, impossible to say with any certainty,” said Michael Brown at Pepperstone.”However, it essentially comes down to whether this is the start of a return to the ‘bad old days’ of early April, and an end to the US-China trade truce; or, whether this is yet another negotiating gambit.”Markets across Asia sank into the red, with Hong Kong shedding more than one percent, while Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei and Mumbai were also well down.Shanghai was also down but pared earlier losses following data showing Chinese imports and exports surged more than expected last month, providing a much-needed boost to the economy.Still, Trump’s comments Sunday provided a little support, with US futures soaring more than one percent.And London, Paris and Frankfurt clawed back some of Friday’s losses.Gold, a safe-haven asset in times of turmoil and uncertainty, continued its rise, touching another record of $4,060.Bitcoin also edged back up after being battered over the weekend in a Trump-fuelled sell-off that saw the cryptocurrency fall below $105,000 from around $122,000. It was sitting just below $115,000 in Asian trade.There was also a healthy bounce for oil, which tanked Friday on Trump’s remarks, which compounded selling of the commodity owing to the Israel-Hamas peace deal that soothed worries about supplies from the Middle East.”Despite the possibility of a replay on how the markets reacted back in April, we believe the looming threat may be short-lived,” said Morningstar’s Kai Wang.”Both sides appeared to be posturing ahead of their November 1 meeting when the tariff truce is set to expire,” he added.He also pointed out that the US government shutdown was “increasingly dampening consumer sentiment in the US, and we do not believe Trump wants to re-escalate foreign policy issues without solving the domestic shutdown first”.- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 25,889.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,889.50 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,457.56 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1601 from $1.1615 on FridayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3334 from $1.3352Dollar/yen: UP at 152.41 yen from 151.57 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.01 pence from 86.98 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 1.6 percent at $59.84 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 1.6 percent at $63.70 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 1.9 percent at 45,479.60 (close)

China’s trade grew faster than expected last month, official data showed Monday, though fresh fears are rising of a major escalation in the tariff war between Beijing and Washington.The world’s second-largest economy has in recent years been mired in a persistent domestic spending slump just as pressure on its export-reliant manufacturing sector intensifies.Clouding the outlook, concerns spiked over the weekend that the trade war between the world’s top two economies will worsen after US President Donald Trump announced additional 100 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods.The move, he said, was in response to Beijing’s announcement last week of sweeping new export controls in the strategic field of rare earths — currently dominated by China.Exports jumped 8.3 percent year on year in September, the General Administration of Customs said, beating a Bloomberg forecast of 6.6 percent.The expansion was the largest since March and much faster than the 4.4 percent increase recorded in August.Imports rose 7.4 percent, the data showed, significantly outpacing a Bloomberg forecast of 1.9 percent.Shipments to the United States — the world’s largest consumer market — picked up to reach $34.3 billion, the data showed.The figure marked an 8.6 percent rise from the $31.6 billion recorded in August.”While this resilience underscores the ability of Chinese exporters to cope with US tariffs, the latest re-escalation in tensions with the US still poses some downside risks,” wrote Zichun Huang, China Economist at Capital Economics.”Direct shipments to the US now make up just 10 percent of China’s total exports and a sizeable portion of these US-bound goods could be diverted to other countries,” wrote Huang.Trump’s announcement Friday rattled markets and called into question a potential upcoming meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea.His statement also said the United States would impose export controls “on any and all critical software” from November 1.Beijing, in turn, accused Washington of acting unfairly, with its Ministry of Commerce on Sunday calling the threat a “typical example of ‘double standards'”.By Sunday the mercurial US president’s rhetoric had cooled.”Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!” he wrote in a social media post, apparently referring to the recent export controls as a “just… a bad moment” for counterpart Xi.”The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!” he wrote.Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of 30 percent under levies that Trump imposed while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade as well as unfair trade practices.China’s retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10 percent.

An escalating trade war between China and the United States faces another flashpoint Tuesday when Chinese ships will be required to start paying a special fee to dock at US ports.The move announced by the US Trade Representative (USTR) in April triggered reciprocal measures from Beijing, which will impose similar costs on US ships starting the same day.The tit-for-tat levies are just the latest in a series of disputes between the world’s two largest economic powers that have roiled financial markets and heightened fears of major disruption to the global economy.President Donald Trump massively upped the ante last week when he announced an additional 100 percent tariff on China and threatened to cancel a summit with Xi Jinping in retaliation for Chinese export curbs on rare earth minerals.The stated purpose of the US port fees is to address Chinese dominance of the global shipping sector and provide an incentive for building more ships in the United States.The non-partisan Alliance for American Manufacturing has called for the funds raised through the fees to be used in building up a new Maritime Security Fund.”The unfair economic practices of China present a sizeable obstacle to revitalizing shipbuilding in the United States,” the alliance said in a petition supporting proposed legislation aimed at developing the sector.  – A fading industry -According to the USTR, the port fee will be charged for each visit to the United States, a maximum of five times per ship per year.Chinese-made ships will pay $18 per net ton — or $120 per container — with an increase of $5 per year for the following three years.Vessels owned or operated by Chinese citizens, but not manufactured in China, will be charged $50 per net ton, with an annual increase of an additional $30 for the next three years.The United States is trying to boost a domestic industry that now represents only 0.1 percent of global shipbuilding.The Trump administration also sees US shipbuilding as tied to national security, given that China leads the world in ship manufacturing. In 2024, former president Joe Biden had tasked the USTR with an investigation to identify “China’s unfair practices in the shipbuilding, shipping, and logistics sectors.”His successor has kept up that focus. In March, Trump announced the creation of a White House Office of Shipbuilding with the aim of reviving that sector of US manufacturing. – Blow for blow -On Friday, Beijing fired back. As of Tuesday, the Chinese government announced, all ships manufactured in the United States or linked to an American company would have to pay “special” duties to dock at ports in China.They would be required to pay 400 yuan (56 dollars) per net ton, then 640 yuan (90 dollars) in April 2026, before further annual increases.”That’s a problem when you’re beholden to a global supply chain that you have no control over, that’s a national security risk,” Matt Paxton, president of the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA), which represents more than 150 US shipbuilding companies, told AFP.”We don’t want to be wholly dependent on communist-controlled state enterprises,” Paxton said, alluding to China.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been working to recreate a thriving industrial base in the United States, notably by imposing sometimes prohibitive tariffs.As a result, many foreign and American companies have announced astronomical investments — worth trillions, according to the White House — in their factories and other sites on American soil.Paxton mentioned “a strong interest” in US-built ships, citing contacts from South Korea, China, Japan, Canada, and others.Many US shipyards are not operating at full capacity and have disabled dry docks, he said.In addition to increased foreign demand, the shipbuilding industry is also happy about the Trump administration’s goal of building 250 ships for the commercial fleet and the $50 billion budget for the Coast Guard and the Navy.”It’s very encouraging,” said Paxton. “It’s a historical moment.”

The US soybean harvest is underway and in rural Maryland, farmer Travis Hutchison cracks open a pod to show how a field is nearly dry enough for reaping.But a decent yield is not enough to secure his income this year — with China, once the biggest buyer of US soybean exports, halting orders in a trade row triggered by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs.Soybean prices “are really depressed because of the trade war,” Hutchison told AFP. His family tills 3,400 acres of soybeans, corn and other crops.”I wasn’t against the president trying it, because I think we needed better trade deals,” added the 54-year-old of Trump’s policies.But he expressed disappointment at how things played out: “I was hoping it would get resolved sooner.”Hutchison is among American farmers — a key support base for Trump — reeling from the trade impasse.The world’s second biggest economy in 2024 bought more than half the $24.5 billion in US soybean exports.But exports to China have fallen by over 50 percent in value this year, and Chinese buyers have held off on new soybean orders from the US autumn harvest.With lower demand, soybean prices are down about 40 percent from three years ago.This comes as American soybeans have become pricier for Chinese buyers.As Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese products in his second presidency, Beijing’s counter-duties on US soybeans rose to 20 percent.This makes them “prohibitively more expensive” than exports from South America, where US farmers face growing competition, said the American Soybean Association (ASA).Last month, Argentina suspended its export tax on key crops like soybeans, making them more attractive to Chinese buyers too.Trump vowed to tap tariff revenues to help US farmers but has not provided details, while prospects of a longer-term deal appear more distant than ever.On Friday, Trump promised additional 100-percent tariffs targeting China and threatened to scrap talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Beijing’s rare earth industry export curbs.ASA president Caleb Ragland said the group had hoped top-level talks would restore soybean exports to China.”These latest developments are deeply disappointing at a moment when soybean farmers are facing an ever-growing financial crisis,” he said.- ‘Band-aid’ -Hutchison, whose family has been farming in Cordova for generations, acknowledges that farmers are easy targets in trade spats.But a government bailout is a “band-aid” rather than a long-term solution, he said.”I’m glad that he’s thinking of us,” Hutchison added, referring to Trump.But securing a reliable trading partner is more important: “We’re in the farming game for the long term.”Time is limited, as China’s soybean purchasing window from the United States usually runs from October through January, said farmer David Burrier, based in Union Bridge, Maryland.”This year’s going to be a very, very tough year,” he told AFP. “40 percent of our acres are probably going to be breakeven or under breakeven.”Burrier said it would be a “four-alarm fire” if China stopped soybean purchases for good.ASA chief economist Scott Gerlt warned the situation is especially harsh in Midwestern states like North and South Dakota.There, the soybean industry is built up around exporting to the Pacific Northwest and subsequently to China.They are hard-hit if they run out of storage and cannot ship their harvests out.- Worse than 2018 -Gerlt said farmers have it harder than in 2018, when they were also caught in Washington and Beijing’s tariffs war.From 2018 to 2019, retaliatory tariffs caused over $27 billion in US agriculture export losses. The government provided $23 billion to help farmers hit by trade disputes.But they enter this trade war under greater financial stress, Gerlt said.Crop revenues are lower, yet costs for everything from fertilizers to equipment have ballooned as Trump’s new tariffs bite.”Getting parts to fix your combines and your planters and everything is costing more because of the tariffs,” Hutchison said. “It’s going to affect our bottom line.”US farm bankruptcies this year have surged about 50 percent from 2024, said professor Chad Hart of Iowa State University.Asked if economic conditions have changed his feelings about supporting Trump, Hutchison paused: “It makes me think a little bit more.”