United News of Bangladesh

China's exports rose 8.1% in April from the year before, much more than economists were expecting, in the tail end of a rush by companies and consumers to beat higher U.S. tariffs that took effect last month. Most forecasts were that exports in April would grow about 2%, down from a whopping 12.4% year-on-year increase in March. Imports fell 0.2% in April from the year before. China’s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States was nearly $20.5 billion in April. Exports to the United States form just a part of China's total exports, and trade with the rest of the world has remained resilient. Preliminary data also show that U.S. imports from other countries not subject to U.S. President Donald Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese products are rising quickly. China’s exports to other countries and regions rose at a robust pace in the first four months of the year. Exports to Southeast Asian countries were up 11.5% from a year earlier. Exports to Latin America also climbed 11.5%. Shipments to India jumped nearly 16% by value, and exports to Africa surged 15%. China launches a blitz of policies to help its economy, plans talks with the US on trade In the first four months of the year, exports to the United States were down 2.5% from a year earlier, while imports from the U.S. fell 4.7%. But figures for the beginning of 2025 show the tariffs and other measures related to Trump's trade war are having an impact. Measured on a monthly basis, in April China's total exports rose just 0.6% from March, while imports increased by nearly 4%.

Dubai International Chamber, one of the three chambers operating under the umbrella of Dubai Chambers, has announced the launch of a new international representative office in Dhaka to further strengthen trade and investment relations between the business communities in Dubai and Bangladesh. The opening of the new office increases the chamber’s network of international representative offices to 35 worldwide. This expansion is part of the ‘Dubai Global’ initiative which seeks to establish 50 international representative offices by 2030 and aims to reinforce Dubai’s position as a leading global business hub by attracting foreign direct investment and supporting the international expansion of local companies into 30 priority markets across the globe. The new office was officially inaugurated during a ceremony in Dhaka which was attended by Abdulla Ali Abdulla Alhmoudi, ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Bangladesh, together with a significant gathering of representatives from the Bangladeshi business community. Lutfey Siddiqi, the chief adviser's special envoy for International affairs was present in the opening ceremony as the Chief Guest. Top global port operators tapped to boost Bangladesh’s infrastructure: BIDA chief The launch comes at a time of growing economic cooperation between Dubai and Bangladesh. Non-oil trade between the two markets reached a value of $ 1.71 billion in 2024, representing a year-over-year growth of nine percent compared to the $ 1.58 billion recorded in 2023. Commenting on the opening, Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, president and CEO of Dubai Chambers, said, “Bangladesh is a dynamic and fast-growing market that offers significant opportunities for Dubai-based companies. The launch of our new office in Dhaka represents a major step forward in strengthening the economic partnership between our markets that will play a key role in building connections between businesses, facilitating trade relations, and attracting investment – all of which contribute to consolidating Dubai’s position as a leading global business hub. We are confident that this office will open up new horizons for fruitful economic cooperation.”

The Bank of England is widely expected to look past near-term inflationary pressures in the British economy and opt to cut interest rates on Thursday as a result of the potential shock to growth emanating from the tariff policies of the Trump administration. Most economists believe it's a near-certainty that the nine-member Monetary Policy Committee will sanction a quarter-point reduction in the bank's main interest rate, to 4.25%. The decision is to be announced at 12:02 p.m., two minutes later than usual as a result of the two-minute silence for Victory in Europe Day. There's some speculation that some members may opt for an even bigger half-point cut. Economists are going to be particularly interested in the bank's accompanying economic forecasts as they will be the first since U.S. President Donald Trump made his tariff announcement in early April. Though most tariffs were paused for 90 days following the ensuing market turmoil, including the 10% baseline tariff applied to U.K. goods entering the United States, the backdrop for the global economy remain highly uncertains. Stocks rebound sharply after 150-point plunge in previous session    “With U.S. trade policy presenting a new demand shock, there have been early signs that the MPC is willing to adopt a more proactive approach to loosening policy,” said Edward Allenby, U.K. economist at Oxford Economics. The forecasts, particularly those regarding growth and inflation, will provide a steer as to whether a more proactive approach is likely. Since it started cutting interest rates in August 2024 from the 16-year high of 5.25%, the MPC has been consistent in lowering borrowing costs every three months. The imposition of U.S. tariffs on British goods, and the potential for a wider global trade war, has the potential to weigh on growth as well as oil prices, which would consequently depress price pressures by lowering demand. Though U.K inflation stands at 2.6% and could well hit double the bank’s target rate of 2% in coming months as a result of a raft of price increases in April, such as domestic energy and water bills, economists think rate-setters will opt for a cut, given the anticipated slowdown. Unlike the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, which last month cut interest rates too, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged Wednesday as its policymakers wait to see how Trump’s tariffs affect the U.S. economy before making any moves. Inflation rates around the world are way down from levels seen a couple of years ago, partly because central banks dramatically increased borrowing costs from the near zero rates during the coronavirus pandemic. Prices then began to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues and later because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which pushed energy costs higher. As inflation rates have declined from multidecade highs, central banks, including the Fed, have started cutting interest rates, though few, if any, economists think that rates will fall back to the super-low levels that persisted in the years after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 and during the pandemic.        

Foxtron, an automaker partly owned by Taiwan iPhone manufacturer Hon Hai Technology Group, and Mitsubishi Motors of Japan said Wednesday they have agreed to develop an electric vehicle to be sold in Australia and New Zealand. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, is one of a growing number of technology companies that are leveraging their knowhow in electronics and communications to try to break into the EV market, snapping up links in the automotive supply chain, according to an AP report. Foxtron is a joint venture between Hon Hai and Taiwan's Yulon Motor Co Yulon makes Nissan vehicles under license. There was speculation earlier this year, when talks on a possible merger between Nissan and Honda Motor Corp. fell through, that Hon Hai might make a bid for Mitsubishi’s alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. The two companies said Wednesday that the EV developed by Foxtron will be produced by Yulon and introduced in Oceania in the second half of 2026. Foxtron and Mitsubishi Motors gave no financial details and said their memorandum of understanding would be followed by further talks. Japanese automakers like Mitsubishi have been stepping up efforts to compete in the EV segment as they contend with intense competition from their Chinese rivals. China launches a blitz of policies to help its economy, plans talks with the US on trade Mitsubishi has set a target for having all of its product lineup be EVs or hybrids by 2035. Foxtron showcased its Model B, a sleek EV hatchback, and its automotive electronics at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Foxconn lists 11 vehicle models on its website, including its Model T bus, Model V pickup truck, Model N van, its Model B, and its “luxury flagship” Model E sedan.

China has announced a barrage of measures meant to counter the blow to its economy from U.S. President Donald Trump ’s trade war, as the two sides prepare for talks later this week. Beijing's central bank governor and other top financial officials outlined plans to cut interest rates and reduce bank reserve requirements to help free up more funding for lending. They also said the government would increase the amount of money available for factory upgrades and other innovation and for elder care and other service businesses. High tariffs imposed by Trump have begun to take a toll on China’s export-dependent economy, which was already under pressure from a prolonged downturn in the property sector. Late Tuesday, China and the U.S. announced plans for talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng later this week in Geneva, Switzerland. The agreement to talk comes at a time when both sides have remained adamant, at least in public, about not compromising on the tariffs. The talks “could be the pivot point that either locks in fragile confidence or re-ignites the ‘trade war’ inferno,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a report. Both the U.S. and Chinese economies have been showing signs of strain, after a spurt of activity as companies and consumers rushed to beat tariff increases. The U.S. economy contracted by 0.3% in January-March. The Chinese economy grew at a 5.4% annual pact in the first quarter of the year, as factories ramped up production to fill a spike in orders. But economists question the validity of the statistics, and more recent reports show a deterioration in new export orders and business sentiment. Among the support announced by China on Wednesday: First automated driving zone in China aims to demonstrate ‘vehicle-road coordination’ People's Bank of China Gov. Pan Gongsheng said China's reverse repo rate, the rate on commercial banks’ deposits with the central bank, was reduced to 1.4% from 1.5%. The PBOC's lending rate to commercial banks was cut by 0.25 percentage points to 1.5%. The required reserve ratio, or portion of funds banks must hold in their reserves, was cut by 0.5%. Pan said that would free up 1 trillion yuan ($137.6 billion) in extra cash. The central bank also reduced interest rates on five-year housing loans. Financial markets have been reeling as the world's two largest economies remained embroiled in a standoff over Trump's tariffs of as high as 145% on imports of most Chinese products. China has retaliated with tariff hikes of up to 125% on U.S. goods and stopped buying most American farm products. The news of the extra boost for the economy and markets, plus the plans for China-U.S. trade talks, pushed share prices up more than 2% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in Shanghai early Wednesday. U.S. futures also advanced. Japan China and South Korea discuss trilateral cooperation The muted movements were to be expected, Tan Jing Yi of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. “We do not expect reaction to be euphoric,” Tan said. “Point being, any trade resolution would likely take a long time and in the near term, there may be some piecemeal exemptions or tariff reductions on certain goods.”

As Japan’s top trade envoy headed to Washington last week for another round of negotiations on tariffs, a separate bipartisan group under the banner of “Japan-China Friendship” concluded a diplomatic visit to Beijing. Just a week prior, the leader of Japan’s junior ruling coalition party had visited Beijing, where he delivered a letter from Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Chinese President Xi Jinping. While the contents of the message remain undisclosed, the discussions reportedly touched on U.S. tariffs as well as other bilateral matters. Amid China’s outreach to U.S. allies in its trade standoff with Washington, Japan presents a particularly distinctive case. Its strong allegiance to the United States, paired with a complex and sometimes tense relationship with China—largely rooted in lingering historical grievances from 20th-century wartime events—make its position especially notable. “Japan and China are neighbors and have deep economic ties, with much that links them,” said Matthew Goodman, director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But at the same time, there are clear boundaries to how closely Japan is willing to align with China.” While Japan won’t walk away from its alliance with the United States, the linchpin of the Asian country’s diplomacy and security policies, “it’s also true that the tariffs and uncertainty that Trump has created for Japan is really shaking things up in Tokyo,” Goodman said. Last month, President Donald Trump announced a 24% tariff on Japanese goods in a sweeping plan to levy duties on about 90 countries. The White House has since paused the tariffs but a 10% baseline duty on all countries except China, allowing time for negotiations. Still, Trump’s 25% tax on aluminum, steel and auto exports have gone into effect for Japan. The tariff moves, as well as Trump’s “America First” agenda, have cast doubts among the Japanese if the United States is still a dependable ally, while China is rallying support from tariff-threatened countries — including Japan. In Beijing, Japan sees positive signs When Tetsuo Saito led Japan’s Komeito Party delegation to Beijing in late April, China hinted at difficulty in its tariff dispute with the United States, signaling its willingness to improve ties with Tokyo. An unnamed senior Chinese official said his country was “in trouble” when discussing Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese products, according to Japanese reports. Saito’s visit was soon followed by that of the bipartisan delegation of Japan-China Friendship Parliamentarians’ Union. Zhao Leji, Beijing’s top legislator, told the delegation that China’s National People’s Congress would be “willing to carry out various forms of dialogue and exchanges.” Beijing did not lift a ban on Japan’s seafood imports as the Japanese delegates hoped, but it signaled positive signs on its assessment of the safety of the discharges of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Beijing banned Japan’s seafood products in 2023, citing those concerns. Ties between Tokyo and Beijing have long been rocky. In the past several years, they squabbled not only over the seafood ban but also long-standing territorial disputes over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu, islands in the East China Sea, Beijing’s growing military assertiveness and violence against Japanese nationals in China — an issue complicated by the nations’ uneasy history. Tokyo’s closer ties with Washington during Joe Biden’s presidency also upset Beijing, which saw it as part of the U.S. strategy to contain China and has lectured Tokyo to “face squarely and reflect on the history of aggression.” An imperial power in Asia for centuries, China fell behind Japan in the 19th century when Japan began to embrace Western industrialization and grew into a formidable economic and military power. It invaded China in the 1930s and controlled the northeastern territory known as Manchuria. War atrocities, including the Nanking Massacre and the use of chemical and biological weapons and human medical experiments in Manchuria, have left deep scars in China. They have yet to be healed, though Japan’s conservative politicians today still attempt to deny the aggression. Ishiba, elected Japan’s prime minister in October, has a more neutral view on his country’s wartime history than the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his two successors. Weeks after taking office, Ishiba held talks with Xi on the sidelines of a leaders’ summit. Warren Buffett will remain chairman at Berkshire Hathaway when Greg Abel takes over as CEO in 2026 Chinese scholars, however, see Tokyo’s recent engagements with Beijing as a pragmatic move to hedge against U.S. protectionism and not a long-term strategy for stability with China. The odds are low for Japan to move into China’s orbit, Goodman said. “They have for a long time had to manage an important but challenging relationship with China,” he said. “And that is, again, a long-standing problem for Japan, going back centuries or millennia.” Seeking tariff deals and stable ties in the US While Japan might welcome the friendlier tone from Beijing, it is trying to stabilize Japan-U.S. relations under Trump’s “America First” agenda, and it is hoping to settle the tariff dispute without confronting Washington, with an eye on preventing Beijing from exploiting any fallout in Japan-U.S. relations. Japan was among the first countries to hold tariff talks with Washington. During the first round in mid-April, Trump inserted himself into the discussions, a sign of the high stakes for the United States to reach a deal with Japan. The Trump administration reportedly pushed for Japan to buy more U.S.-made cars and open its market to U.S. beef, rice and potatoes. After the second round of negotiation in Washington last week, Ryosei Akazawa, the country’s chief tariff negotiator, said he pushed Japan’s request that the U.S. drop tariffs and was continuing efforts toward an agreement acceptable to both sides. He said Japan’s auto industry was already hurting from the 25% tariff and that he needed to be “thorough but fast.” Asked about China, Akazawa said only that his country keeps watching the U.S.-China tariff development “with great interest.” He noted Japan’s deep trade ties with China.    

Billionaire Warren Buffett will remain chairman of the board at Berkshire Hathaway when vice chairman Greg Abel takes over for Buffett as CEO at the start of 2026. The board of directors at the cash-rich conglomerate voted Sunday to keep the legendary 94-year-old investor as head of the board, a decision likely to relieve investors worried about maintaining Berkshire’s remarkable winning streak as U.S. and global economies are beset by tariff shocks, financial turmoil and a growing risk of recession. The board in the same meeting also approved Buffett’s chosen successor as CEO, veteran Berkshire executive Greg Abel, 62. In a surprise announcement Saturday, Buffett said he would step down from that top spot at the end of the year. Berkshire Class B shares fell more than 5% Monday after hitting an all-time high Friday. Macrae Sykes, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, praised the company's transparency after Buffett announced the succession and does not believe Buffett is going anywhere. “I think it gives Warren a little more bandwidth instead of running this conglomerate," Sykes said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It gives Greg more transparency on the opps with also Warren still being his mentor as chairman,” Unmatched track record of success In six decades at the helm, Buffett turned a Massachusetts textile company into a sprawling but nimble conglomerate that owns everything from Daily Queen and See’s Candies to BNSF Railway and massive insurance companies. As the company grew, Warren's reputation grew with it as shares of Berkshire Hathaway climbed steadily, exceeding major indexes by wide margins and returning an average 19.9% each year to investors versus 10.4% for the Standard & Poor’s 500. The decision to continue with the Oracle of Omaha, as Buffett is known, as head of the board differs from the succession plans laid out in the event of Buffett's death. The billionaire has long said that Howard Buffett, the second-born of the investor’s three children, should become chairman when he is gone to protect Berkshire's culture. Warren Buffett shocks shareholders by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the year Abel will take over with big questions hover overing the company, including trade wars launched by the U.S., but he has managed all of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses since 2018. Buffett says President Donald Trump’s tariffs were a big mistake. There are also worries that Berkshire might not able to avoid the fate of most conglomerates—forced to break up to recapture focus. So much money, so few places to put it Then there is Berkshire’s $348 billion in cash. Buffett says he doesn’t see many bargains to invest that money in now, not even Berkshire’s own stock, but he assured some of the estimated 40,000 attendees of the company’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, over the weekend that one day the company would be “bombarded with opportunities.” Abel, a low-key Canadian with a love a hockey, has already shown he is a more hands-on manager than Buffett, asking managers tough questions and encouraging them to collaborate with other subsidiaries when it makes sense. He will now take on oversight of the insurance businesses and responsibility for investing the company’s cash. Vice Chairman Ajit Jain, 73, will stay on for now to help manage the insurance businesses that include Geico and massive reinsurers like General Re. Abel said Saturday that he wouldn't change the Berkshire's approach to investing, which he learned from Buffett. Maintaining Berkshire's fortress-like balance sheet will always be a priority, he said. Eventually, Berkshire might have to consider paying a dividend, which Buffett always resisted because he believed he could deliver better returns by reinvesting the cash. For now, Buffett and Abel want to keep building cash, so they are prepared when opportunities arise. High praise for Abel Buffett endorsed Abel by saying he would keep all of his shares that give him control of 30% of Berkshire Hathaway and praised Abel during the shareholder meeting.. “It’s way better with Greg than with me because I didn’t want to work as hard as he works and I can get away with it because we’ve got a basically good business -- a very good business -- and I wasn’t in danger of you firing me by virtue of the ownership and the fact that we could do pretty well,” Buffett said. “But the fact that you can do pretty well doesn’t mean you couldn’t do better, and Greg can do better at many things.” Warren Buffett offers lessons on investing in his annual Berkshire Hathaway letter The CEOs of Berkshire subsidiaries who report to Abel have praised his management style which holds them accountable while allowing them autonomy. See's Candy CEO Pat Egan worked with Abel at Berkshire's utility unit for years before he took over six years ago and said Abel makes sure he's considered every contingency. “He’s allowed me to make a lot of decisions that he may or may not have agreed with, but he’ll support us at the end of the day, no matter what as long as we’re operating with integrity and principles and the long game," Egan said. Buffett's philanthropy continues Buffett has always delegated the decisions about how to distribute his fortune, worth nearly $170 billion today, to others by giving shares annually to the Gates Foundation and four family foundations run by his children. The Gates Foundation has received the biggest donations worth more than $40 billion since he started giving away his fortune in 2006. He said last summer that his three children will decide how to distribute his remaining fortune after his death but that the Gates Foundation won’t get any more donations at that point. Howard, 70, has his own foundation through which he has donated billions to humanitarian and food security causes, including helping coffee farms in El Salvador and war-torn Ukraine. Howard Buffett's foundation expects to top $1 billion in gifts to Ukraine — more than most countries — later this year. Buffett's lasting impact on business Tributes to Buffett came tumbling in over the weekend praising his investment savvy and folksy management style. “There’s never been someone like Warren, and countless people, myself included, have been inspired by his wisdom,” Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on X. “It’s been one of the great privileges of my life to know him.” JP Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon said Buffett represented “everything that is good about American capitalism and America itself,” and praised his “integrity, optimism and common sense.”

 President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S. In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” “The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death," he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw" filmmakers and studios away from the U.S. "This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” The White House said Monday that it was figuring out how to comply with the president's wishes. “Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the Administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” said spokesperson Kush Desai. It’s common for both large and small films to include production in the U.S. and in other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," for instance, are shot around the world. Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom. Tariffs, oil prices and other uncertainties weighing down Mideast economies, IMF says Yet Trump's tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace. China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than $2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, it earned just $20.9 million. In New Zealand, where successive governments have offered rebates and incentives in recent years to draw Hollywood films to the country, the film industry has generated billions of dollars in tourism revenue driven by the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” films, which featured the country’s pristine and scenic vistas. More recently, the blockbuster “Minecraft” movie was filmed entirely in New Zealand, and U.S. productions in 2023 delivered $1.3 billion New Zealand dollars ($777 million) to the country in return for NZ$200 million in subsidies, according to government figures. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was awaiting more details of Trump’s measures before commenting on them but would continue to pitch to filmmakers abroad, including in India’s Bollywood. “We’ve got an absolutely world class industry,” he said. “This is the best place to make movies, period, in the world.” The Motion Picture Association, which represents major U.S. film studios and streaming services, didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday evening. The MPA’s data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023. Trump, a Republican, has made good on the “tariff man" label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened. By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead. Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas. Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors" to Hollywood to bring it "BACK — BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” U.S. film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production. Caterpillar warns tariffs may raise Q2 costs by $350m as sales decline The group's annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the U.S. made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth. The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually, up from $330 million. Other U.S. cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer. “Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. “If they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in."

In a post on his Truth Social platform Sunday night, Trump announced that he had directed the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to impose a 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the United States. “The American film industry is dying rapidly,” Trump claimed, accusing other countries of luring filmmakers with generous incentives. He argued that this international competition poses a national security threat, calling it “messaging and propaganda” backed by foreign governments. However, how such a tariff would be implemented remains unclear. Many film productions, including major blockbusters like the upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, are typically shot across multiple countries, including the U.S. Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom. Yet tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelming dominate the domestic marketplace. China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than $2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, in earned just $20.9 million. The Motion Picture Association didn’t immediately respond to messages Sunday evening. The MPA’s data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced $22.6 billion in exports and $15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023. Businesses, experts call for business-friendly policies in upcoming budget Trump has made good on the “tariff man” label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened. By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead. Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas. Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood to bring it “BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” U.S. film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the U.S. was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production. The group’s annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the U.S. made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth. The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually, up from $330 million.    

Japan’s Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato has hinted that the country’s substantial holdings of US Treasury could serve as leverage in ongoing tariff negotiations with the Trump administration. “It does exist as a card, but I think whether we choose to use it or not would be a separate decision,” Kato stated during a televised interview on national broadcaster TV Tokyo on Friday, AP reports. While Kato refrained from providing further details or suggesting Japan intends to sell its holdings, the remark signals a potential shift in Japan’s strategy as tensions over tariffs grow. Previously, Kato and other Japanese officials had dismissed the possibility of using Treasury holdings as a negotiation tool. Japan is currently the largest foreign holder of US government debt, owning approximately $1.13 trillion as of late February. China, which is also engaged in a trade standoff with the United States, ranks second. The $10 billion India-Pakistan trade hidden from official records Kato emphasised that various elements would be considered in negotiations with President Donald Trump, hinting that Japan’s continued investment in US bonds could be used to gain favourable terms. The Trump administration has disrupted long-standing US trade policies, including with allies such as Japan, by imposing steep tariffs on a broad range of imported goods. A new round of US tariffs — 25% on vehicles and auto parts, and a 10% baseline tariff — is expected to take effect soon, posing a threat to Japan’s slowing economy. A delegation of Japanese officials visited Washington this week for discussions aimed at averting the new tariffs.