This episode contains segments on:
- Chinese President meets private entrepreneurs;
- Caixin analysis of 2025 local GDP growth targets;
- China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association opposes US tariffs on aluminium products;
Listeners are also invited to join the event Digital Transformation in Retail—Experiential Retail on 26th February in Shanghai.
Read more:
Chinese President meets private entrepreneurs
Xinhua Headlines: Xi urges healthy, high-quality development of private sector-Xinhua
Graphics: Private sector’s share of the Chinese economy – CGTN
Caixin analysis of 2025 local GDP growth targets
In Depth: China’s Policymakers Target Consumption to Kick Economy Into Gear
China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association opposes US tariffs on aluminium products
Chinese industry association opposes additional US tariffs on aluminum – China.org.cn
Macro Tariff Playbook: steel and aluminum tariffs | EY – US
Chamber event: Digital Transformation in Retail—Experiential Retail
Digital Transformation in Retail: Experiential retail
Contact:
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Transcript:
RUI: Hello and welcome to China ShortCuts,
MARIANN: the European Chamber’s weekly catchup on China’s business landscape.
RUI: This episode was recorded on 19th February 2025.
(MUSIC)
RUI: On 17th February, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a closed-door meeting with private entrepreneurs and delivered a speech calling for the high-quality development of the private economy.
MARIANN: In his speech, he highlighted the need to guarantee that private firms have equal access to production factors and can compete on a fair basis with their rights and interests effectively protected. In this regard, he listed problems such as overdue payments owed to private firms, random inspections and arbitrary fines. The President said that private companies play an important role in China’s efforts at technological innovation, and in achieving broader goals focused on improving people’s quality of life.
An article published by CGTN following the meeting provided an overview of the private sector’s contribution to the Chinese economy: it accounts for nearly half of foreign trade, over 60 per cent of GDP, over 70 per cent of technological innovations and more than 80 per cent of urban employment. CGTN also reported that lawmakers are now deliberating a draft of China’s first basic law focused on private sector growth.
RUI: The meeting was widely seen as an attempt to boost confidence in the private sector, after mixed messaging form the Chinese Government gave rise to concerns that the playing field will be increasingly tilted towards the state sector. Notably, the Third Plenum Decision stated that the market should play “the decisive role in resource allocation”, but at the same time it also called for “state capital and SOEs [to] get stronger, do better, and grow bigger, with their core functions and core competitiveness enhanced.”
In the days following the meeting, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate all announced various efforts at supporting the development of the private economy, including removing market access barriers, introducing more inclusive and targeted policy measures and improving legal protection for private firms.
(MUSIC)
RUI: In a report published on 14th February, Caixin provided analysis of the local government work reports released by the 31 provincial-level governments in the Chinese mainland.
MARIANN: The provincial-level governments all held their annual meetings over the course of January and set their local GDP growth targets for 2025. The national target will be officially set during the Two Sessions held in Beijing in March. Caixin’s analysis showed that the top task for most local governments this year is expanding domestic demand. Other common goals listed by many include improving the business environment and promoting employment. As for the growth targets, Caixin pointed out that 15 out of the 31 regions set them lower than the 2024 targets, suggesting that they expect a difficult year ahead. Another 15 kept their targets largely unchanged from 2024. For the overwhelming majority—all mainland provinces with the exception of Qinghai—the target was set at around 5 per cent.
(MUSIC)
RUI: On 18th February, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association opposed the additional tariffs on aluminium products, announced by the US government on 10th February.
MARIANN: In its statement the Association highlighted the important role that the aluminium industry plays in global supply chains and called the US move disruptive to the balance of supply and demand in global markets in all related sectors. They argued that this would lead to price volatility and undermine the interests of producers, traders and consumers alike. The new 25 per cent tariffs are scheduled to come into effect on 12th March and will apply to all steel and aluminium imports. Data published by EY Parthenon showed that the new tariffs will hit Canada the hardest, as the country supplies half of the US’ aluminium imports and a fifth of its steel imports. By comparison, China will be impacted to a lesser extent, as it is only the fifth largest source of US aluminium imports and only the eighth largest for steel.
(MUSIC)
RUI: Over the past few years, more and more consumers have engaged in online shopping. With the upgrade of mobile devices, consumers can enjoy online shopping anytime, anywhere.
MARIANN: This has contributed to the maturing of certain technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality. These technologies have provided powerful support for the digital transformation of the retail industry, enabling retailers to better understand and adapt to consumer demands.
RUI: Join us in Shanghai on 26th February to learn more about retail industry trends, such as intelligent inventory management, supply chain optimisation and automated business processes from seasoned industry insiders.
(MUSIC)
MARIANN: Thanks for listening, and don’t forget to tune in again next week.
RUI: In the meantime, please find useful links in the episode notes.