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WASHINGTON — The United States announced regulatory changes on Tuesday to increase support for the Cuban people and independent private sector entrepreneurs. The changes will enable more U.S. financial support for small private businesses in Cuba, enhance internet-based services on the island and broaden access to financial services.

The new U.S. measures come as the communist-run island faces a social and economic crisis, including severe shortages of food, fuel, electricity and medicine.

A senior administration official stated that the new authorization allows Cuba’s independent private sector entrepreneurs to open and remotely access U.S. bank accounts, including through U.S. online payment platforms.

As of 2021, Cuban entrepreneurs can establish small and medium private enterprises under Cuban law. By the latest count, there are over 11,000 registered private businesses in Cuba.

“It’s important to note that the new definition for independent private sector entrepreneurship excludes prohibited officials of the Cuban government, such as National Assembly members, Cuban military officers, certain ministry staff, regime propagandists and prohibited members of the Cuban Communist Party,” the senior official told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday.

New U.S. regulatory measures will benefit the Cuban people while continuing to minimize resources to the Cuban government, said another senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration.

“We believe that the growth of an independent entrepreneurial private sector in Cuba is fully aligned with our values and is the best hope for generating economic development and employment in Cuba,” said the senior official.

The Treasury Department said that Tuesday’s regulatory changes will allow Cuban nationals to open, maintain and remotely use U.S. bank accounts, including through online payment platforms, to conduct authorized or exempt transactions, whether the independent private sector entrepreneur is physically located in the United States, Cuba or another country.

Earlier this month, the U.S. removed Cuba from its list of countries “not cooperating fully” in the fight against terrorism. However, Cuba remains on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

The cooperation against terrorism list, which the State Department is required by law to provide to Congress, is not the same as the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

U.S. officials declined to comment on whether the State Department has begun a formal review of Cuba’s presence on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. U.S. sanctions against the Cuban government, its military intelligence and security services remain in place.
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NEW YORK — Three years ago, Erin Decker was a middle school librarian in Kissimmee, Florida, increasingly frustrated by the state’s book bans and worried that she couldn’t make a difference remaining in her job.

So, she and fellow librarian Tania Galiñanes thought of a way to fight back.

“We just put our heads together and decided a bookstore would help make sure students could get to books that were being pulled from shelves,” says Decker, whose White Rose Books & More opened last fall in Kissimmee. The store is named for a resistance group in Nazi Germany and features a section — ringed by yellow “caution” tape — dedicated to such banned works as Maia Kabobe’s Gender Queer, Jonathan Evison’s Lawn Boy and John Green’s Looking for Alaska.

White Rose Books is part of the ever-expanding and diversifying world of independent bookstores. Even as industry sales were slow in 2023, membership in the American Booksellers Association continued its years-long revival. It now stands at 2,433, more than 200 over the previous year and nearly double since 2016. Around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years, according to the ABA.

“Our numbers are really strong, and we have a solid, diverse pipeline of new stores to come,” says Allison Hill, the book association’s CEO. She cites a range of reasons for people opening stores, from opposing bans to championing diversity to pursuing new careers after the pandemic.

“Some are opening to give back to their community. And some still just love books,” she said during a phone interview this week.

Recent members include everyone from the romance-oriented That’s What She Read in Mount Ayr, Iowa; to Seven Stories in Shawnee, Kansas, managed by 15-year-old Halley Vincent; to more than 20 Black-owned shops.

In Pasadena, California, Octavia’s Bookshelf is named for the late Black science fiction author Octavia Butler and bills itself as “a space to find community, enjoy a cup of coffee, read, relax, find unique and specially curated products from artisans from around the world and in our neighborhood.” Leah Johnson, author of the prize-winning young adult novel You Should See Me In a Crown, was troubled by the surge in book bans and by what she saw as a shortage of outlets for diverse voices. Last year, she founded Loudmouth Books, one of several independent sellers to open in Indianapolis.

“I’m not a person who dreamed of opening a bookstore. I didn’t want to be anybody’s boss,” Johnson says. “But I saw a need and I had to fill it.”

Most of the new businesses are traditional “brick and mortar” retailers. But a “bookstore” can also mean a “pop-up” business like Loc’d & Lit, which has a mission to bring “the joy of reading to the Bronx,” the New York City borough that had been viewed by the industry as a “desert” for its scarcity of bookstores. Other new stores are online only, among them the Be More Literature Children’s Bookshop and the used books seller Liberation Is Lit. Nick Pavlidis, a publisher, ghost writer and trainer of ghost writers, launched the online Beantown Books in 2023 and has since opened a small physical store in suburban Boston.

“My goal is to move into a larger space and create a friendly place for authors to host events,” he says, adding that he’d like to eventually own several stores.

Independent bookselling has never been dependably profitable, and Hill notes various concerns — rising costs, dwindling aid from the pandemic and the ongoing force of Amazon.com, which remains the industry’s dominate retailer even after the e-book market stalled a decade ago. Last month, the booksellers association filed a motion with the Federal Trade Commission, seeking to join the antitrust suit against Amazon that the FTC announced in 2023. The motion states in part that Amazon is able to offer prices “that ABA members cannot match except by forgoing a sustainable margin, or incurring a loss.”

Just opening a store requires initiative and a willingness to take risks. Decker says that she and Galiñanes had to use retirement money because lenders wouldn’t provide credit until they were actually in business. The owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf, Nikki High, is a former communications director for Trader Joe’s who relied on crowdfunding and her own savings to get her store started.

“Even with tons of planning, and asking questions and running numbers, it’s been very difficult,” High says. “I don’t know that I could have prepared myself for what a shrewd business person you have to be to making a living out of this.”

High cites a variety of challenges and adjustments — convincing customers they don’t have to order items from Amazon.com, supplementing sales by offering tote bags and journals and other non-book items. Knowing which books to stock has also proved an education.

“I would read a book and think it’s the best thing ever and order a bunch of copies, and everybody else is like, ‘No, I don’t want that book,'” she explains. “And when we started, I wanted to be everything for everybody. We had a ton of different categories. But I found out that short stories and poetry almost never sell for us. People want general fiction, bestsellers, children’s books. Classics sell very well, books by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison and bell hooks and June Jordan.”

“It’s incredibly important to listen to your customers.”
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detroit — Cars, trucks and SUVs in the U.S. keep getting older, hitting a record average age of 12.6 years in 2024 as people hang on to their vehicles largely because new ones cost so much. 

S&P Global Mobility, which tracks state vehicle registration data nationwide, said Wednesday that the average vehicle age grew about two months from last year’s record. 

But the growth in average age is starting to slow as new vehicle sales start to recover from pandemic-related shortages of parts, including computer chips. The average increased by three months in 2023. 

Still, with an average U.S. new-vehicle selling price of just over $45,000 last month, many can’t afford to buy new — even though prices are down more than $2,000 from the peak in December of 2022, according to J.D. Power. 

“It’s prohibitively high for a lot of households now,” said Todd Campau, aftermarket leader for S&P Global Mobility. “So I think consumers are being painted into the corner of having to keep the vehicle on the road longer.” 

Other factors include people waiting to see if they want to buy an electric vehicle or go with a gas-electric hybrid or a gasoline vehicle. Many, he said, are worried about the charging network being built up so they can travel without worrying about running out of battery power. Also, he said, vehicles are made better these days and simply are lasting a long time. 

New vehicle sales in the U.S. are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels, with prices and interest rates the big influencing factors rather than illness and supply-chain problems, Campau said. He said he expects sales to hit around 16 million this year, up from 15.6 million last year and 13.9 million in 2022. 

As more new vehicles are sold and replace aging vehicles in the nation’s fleet of 286 million passenger vehicles, the average age should stop growing and stabilize, Campau said. And unlike immediately after the pandemic, more lower-cost vehicles are being sold, which likely will bring down the average price, he said. 

People keeping vehicles longer is good news for the local auto repair shop. About 70% of vehicles on the road are six or more years old, he said, beyond manufacturer warranties. 

Those who are able to keep their rides for multiple years usually get the oil changed regularly and follow manufacturer maintenance schedules, Campau noted.
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Study finds 1 in 3 secretly travel while working remotely
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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it is releasing 1 million barrels of gasoline from a Northeast reserve established after Superstorm Sandy in a bid to lower prices at the pump this summer. 

The sale, from storage sites in New Jersey and Maine, will be allocated in increments of 100,000 barrels at a time. The approach will create a competitive bidding process that ensures gasoline can flow into local retailers ahead of the July 4 holiday and sold at competitive prices, the Energy Department said. The move is intended to help “lower costs for American families and consumers,” the department said in a statement. 

Gas prices average about $3.60 per gallon nationwide as of Tuesday, up 6 cents from a year ago, according to AAA (American Automobile Association). Tapping gasoline reserves is one of the few actions a president can take by himself to try to control inflation, an election year liability for the party in control of the White House. 

“The Biden-Harris administration is laser-focused on lowering prices at the pump for American families, especially as drivers hit the road for summer driving season,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in the statement. “By strategically releasing this reserve in between Memorial Day and July 4th, we are ensuring sufficient supply flows to the tri-state (area) and Northeast at a time hardworking Americans need it the most.” 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said release of gas from the Northeast reserve builds on actions by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, “to lower gas and energy costs — including historic releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the largest-ever investment in clean energy.” 

Biden significantly drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dropping the stockpile to its lowest level since the 1980s. The election-year move helped stabilize gasoline prices that had been rising in the wake of the war in Europe but drew complaints from Republicans that the Democratic president was playing politics with a reserve meant for national emergencies.
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Beijing — China’s commerce ministry on Sunday launched an anti-dumping probe into POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, imported from the European Union, United States, Japan and Taiwan.

The plastics can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics, and medical equipment, the ministry said in a statement.

The investigation should be completed in a year but could be extended for six months, it said.

The European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, said it would carefully study the contents of the investigation before deciding on any next steps.

“We expect China to ensure that this investigation is fully in line with all relevant WTO (World Trade Organization) rules and obligations,” a spokesperson said.

China’s plastics probe comes amid a broader trade row with the United States and Europe.

The United States on Tuesday unveiled steep tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles, or EVs, computer chips, medical products and other imports.

On Friday, the European Union launched a trade investigation into Chinese tinplate steel, the latest in a string of EU trade and subsidy probes into Chinese exports.

Most notably, the European Commission launched a probe last September to decide whether to impose punitive tariffs on cheaper Chinese EVs that it suspects of benefiting from state subsidies.

Beijing argues the recent focus by the United States and Europe on the risks to other economies from China’s excess capacity is misguided.

Chinese officials say the criticism understates innovation by Chinese companies in key industries and overstates the importance of state support in driving their growth.
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VIENNA — A court in the Russian city of St. Petersburg has ordered the seizing of assets of Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in the country, the Russia state news agency Tass says. The order is in response to a lawsuit over the planned construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Baltic Sea.

The banks were among the guarantors in the contract for building a gas processing plant by a multinational construction firm, Renaissance Heavy Industries, and German company Linde. But the project was cancelled after Western sanctions, with the banks withdrawing their guarantees.

The cancellation came at the request of RusChemAlliance, a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom and the operator of the project, German news agency dpa reported.

RusChemAlliance paid advances to Linde for the building of the plant. The company is claiming about 238.61 million euros ($260 million) against Deutsche Bank and 94.92 million euros ($103 million) against Commerzbank, according to dpa.

In a statement, Deutsche Bank said that it has made a provision for approximately 260 million euros ($283 million) under an indemnification agreement.

It also said that it would need to assess the immediate operational impact in Russia and see how the claim will be viewed by the Russian courts.

Western nations have imposed a wide range of sanctions against Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
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HONG KONG — Shares of Chinese property developers rallied on Thursday after a report that China was considering a plan for local governments across the country to buy millions of unsold homes from distressed companies to ease a protracted property crisis. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index closed up 4.9% to the highest since November 24. The sub-index has gained around 30% since mid-April, when the market started speculation that more supportive measures would be rolled out to stabilize the ailing sector after months of disappointing home sales. 

Defaulted private developer Fantasia and KWG Group jumped 63% and 40%, respectively, while state-backed Sino-Ocean Group surged 46%. 

Hong Kong’s markets were closed on Wednesday for a public holiday. They have been catching up to gains in mainland property shares since the previous day. 

China’s CSI 300 Real Estate index firmed 3.5% on Thursday, following a 2.2% rise on Wednesday.  

Bloomberg News said on Wednesday the State Council was gathering feedback on the preliminary plan from various provinces and government bodies after a meeting of the ruling Communist Party leaders in late April called for efforts to clear mounting housing inventory. 

Local state-owned enterprises would be asked to help purchase unsold homes from distressed developers at steep discounts using loans provided by state banks, according to the report, which added that many of these homes would be converted into affordable housing. 

China’s housing ministry, central bank, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the Ministry of Natural Resources scheduled a news briefing Friday afternoon about the supporting policies to ensure housing delivery, according to a notice on Thursday. 

Bloomberg News said in a separate report on Thursday that the State Council plans to hold a meeting with key officials from the housing ministry, financial regulators, local governments and state banks on Friday morning to discuss the property market, including a proposal to clear excess housing inventory. 

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.  

China’s property sector slipped into a debt crisis in mid-2021. Since 2022, waves of policy measures have failed to turn around the sector, which represents about a fifth of the economy and remains a major drag on consumer spending and confidence. 

Over the past years, some local governments already announced plans to buy unfinished or unsold homes from developers and turn them into social housing, but the scale has been small. 

Authorities also in recent weeks ramped up policies intended to clear the stock of unsold housing. Large cities such as Beijing and Shenzhen have eased home purchase restrictions, with some allowing homebuyers to “swap” to a new home from an old one. 

“We believe this could be a game changer in the sense that property sales may at least stabilize rather than turn worse,” JPMorgan said in a report, referring to the reported plan in consideration. 

The bank, however, added it is skeptical about whether the scale would be large enough to trigger a market recovery unless the funding would come from the central government. 

Nomura said if local governments could acquire a meaningful volume of unsold homes from developers, it would help resolve the inventory issue and channel fund flows to the credit-trapped private companies, said Nomura.  

This, in turn, would support construction activities and alleviate the sector’s downward spiral, it said. 

However, some have been concerned about the lack of housing demand in smaller cities, with worries surfacing that such a plan would further weigh on the financial health of local governments.  

Local governments are already more than $9 trillion in debt and pose a major risk to China’s economy and financial stability. 

“It would only work in higher-tier cities but not lower-tier ones; where would the buyers come from?” said an analyst from another Asian bank, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media. “Telling local governments in those cities to buy inventory would just burn their balance sheet.” 
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WASHINGTON — In a bid to revive domestic manufacturing, President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he is imposing a drastic tariff increase on Chinese electric vehicles and new levies on computer chips, solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.      

“We’re not going to let China flood our market making it impossible for American auto – auto manufacturers to compete fairly,” Biden said. “I will do it by following international trade laws.”  

Tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, also known as EVs, will be quadrupled to a 100% rate. Solar cell and semiconductor imports from China will be subject to a 50% tariff, double the current rate. The rate on certain steel and aluminum imports will increase to 25%, more than triple the current level.  

The tariff increase will cover $18 billion in Chinese products. Tariffs on EVs, steel and aluminum, and solar cells will take effect this year, and next year for chips.   

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the administration has provided pre-notification to Beijing.     

“We have made clear this is not about escalation,” she said. “This is about the consequences of decades of economic policy and the need for the United States to defend our rights.”   

The move is designed to offset “China’s unfair practices and subsidies and level the playing field for U.S. automakers and auto workers,” National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard told reporters Monday ahead of the announcement.  

“China is simply too big to play by its own rules,” she said. “China is using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest, despite excess Chinese capacity, and flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair practices.”     

China’s “forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft” have contributed to its control of the majority of global production for the critical inputs “creating unacceptable risks to America’s supply chains and economic security,” the White House said.

Responding to the U.S. announcement, China said Tuesday the move “will seriously affect the atmosphere of bilateral cooperation.”    

“The U.S. is essentially using the ‘overcapacity’ narrative to kneecap other countries’ strong industries and practice protectionism and trample on market principles and international trade rules in the name of ‘fair competition.’ This is nothing but bullying,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters Tuesday in Beijing.

Tough on China    

The move follows a three-year review of the policies of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, who is the Republican presumptive presidential nominee. Both candidates have used their campaign events to compete in showing who is tougher on China ahead of the November election.  

“My predecessor promised to increase American exports and boost manufacturing, but he did neither. He failed,” Biden said.   

The former president said Tuesday that the Biden administration’s new tariffs will not be enough to compete against Beijing.  

“China’s eating our lunch right now,” Trump said, adding that Biden should slap tariffs on “much more than electric vehicles.”     

“They’ve also got to do it on other vehicles, and they have to do it on a lot of other products,” Trump told reporters as he entered court for his hush money trial in New York.   

Asked by reporters on Trump’s comment about China eating America’s lunch (unfairly taking advantage of the U.S.), Biden responded, “He’s been feeding them a long time.”  

The Trump campaign hit back, calling Biden’s action a “weak and futile attempt to distract from the grievous harm his insane Electric Vehicle mandate is doing to the U.S. auto industry.”    

“The fact that these tariffs do not apply to gas-powered cars and trucks but only to Chinese EVs shows that this has nothing to do with protecting American Workers,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “It’s all about Crooked Joe’s agenda of killing gas-powered automobiles while forcing Americans into ultra-expensive Electric Vehicles they don’t want and can’t afford.”  

Asked by VOA to respond to such criticism, Tai said the tariffs are “designed to be strategic and not chaotic. They are designed to be effective and not emotional.”   

Preempting future increases  

Currently, the U.S. imports almost no EVs from China, but the Biden administration is trying to preempt potential future increases, said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, or CNAS.  

The tariffs hit sectors where the administration has been investing with industrial policy tools, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, Ziemba told VOA, referring to Biden’s climate and energy legislation, and legislation to boost domestic semiconductor research and manufacturing.  

“In a sense, these tariffs are part of a policy initiative to make sure that Chinese companies can’t benefit from that U.S. government subsidy,” he said.  

The move is likely to increase friction between the world’s two largest economies and is not likely to change Beijing’s behavior.    

“China opposes unilateral tariffs that violate WTO rules and will take all measures necessary to defend our legitimate rights and interests,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang said.      

Biden reiterated he wants “fair competition with China, not conflict.” He said the U.S. is in a stronger position to win because of the investments his administration has made to revive domestic manufacturing.  

According to a 2022 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, China spent more on industrial policy ($248 billion) than it did on its defense spending ($240 billion) in 2019.  

China spends far more supporting its industries than any other economy in the CSIS study, and more than twice as much as the U.S.  

Circumventing through Mexico 

On the same day Biden announced the new tariffs, Chinese automaker BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle producer, unveiled the Shark, a midsize hybrid-electric pickup truck, in Mexico. In February, BYD said it was looking for a location in Mexico for its factory.   

A Mexico-made EV with sufficient North America-sourced parts could qualify for tariff-free entry into the U.S. market under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. 

The administration said Beijing’s move to circumvent tariffs via a U.S. free trade partner is “a pattern” of “serious concern” that it’s investigating. 

With Chinese EV production moving out of China, taking action against Chinese EVs in third country markets is something that the administration should deeply explore, said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator who is now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. 

Blocking Beijing’s circumvention effort can be done by amending the USMCA or through supplemental agreements, or an investment screening mechanism separate from the USMCA, she told VOA. “I’m sure there are other alternatives as well that are being explored.”  

Tai would only reveal that addressing the issue will “require a separate pathway,” without providing details. “I would just ask you to stay tuned,” she said. 

Anita Powell contributed to this report.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his high-profile European tour Friday after signing dozens of agreements with France, Hungary and Serbia, while reiterating Beijing’s desire to enhance “mutually beneficial cooperation” between China and Europe.

Some analysts say Xi’s trip to Europe is part of Beijing’s attempt to undermine European unity while deepening its foothold in the European Union through elevated economic ties with Hungary, a member of the 27-nation bloc.

“Beijing has identified France as a weak link in the EU” that it could potentially influence because of French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to prioritize his country’s “strategic autonomy,” and the Chinese government “thinks they can use Hungary and Serbia to influence Central and Eastern Europe,” said Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Brussels.

Chinese state media outlets are framing Xi’s European tour as a success by highlighting the positive aspects of the trip. The state-run Global Times described the 18 deals that China and France signed this week as “a positive signal for European entrepreneurs and a stabilizer to China-Europe trade ties against [the] decoupling push.”

Meanwhile, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said China’s decision to elevate ties with Hungary marks “the most recent stride in China’s effort to deepen cooperation with Central and Eastern European nations.”

Judging from the substance of his trip, Arho Havren said, Xi did achieve some success in testing unity in Europe.

Additionally, Arho Havren said Xi’s recent interactions with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expose a fault line between Germany and France — the EU’s top two economies — regarding how to handle relations with China.

“Since Scholz prioritized German interests due to fear of Chinese countermeasures during his trip to Beijing, [it’s clear] that Beijing has been successful in influencing the German businesses and through them, the chancellor,” she told VOA in a written response.

Unlike Scholz, some experts said Macron tried to show that he supports the EU’s common approach toward China by inviting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to join his initial meeting with Xi in Paris.

“I think conveying the sense that [projecting European unity] is the top priority for French diplomacy has been the successful part of Xi’s European tour for Paris,” Mathieu Duchatel, director of international studies at the French policy group Institut Montaigne, told VOA by phone.

Overall, Arho Havren said some European countries should understand they can’t influence China’s behavior by engaging with them individually. Rather, such practice runs the risk of creating disunity within the EU, which is what Beijing seeks.

“China will continue its efforts to keep the EU disunited by playing the target countries’ vulnerabilities and egos against one another,” she told VOA.

EU’s economic security agenda

Some observers say one of China’s initiatives to challenge the EU’s unity is to slow down the bloc’s efforts to carry out key parts of its economic security agenda. In recent months, the EU has launched anti-subsidy investigations into several Chinese products, including green energy and security devices.

During his meeting with Macron and von der Leyen, Xi said there is no such thing as “China’s overcapacity problem,” and he urged the EU to “develop the right perception of China and adopt a positive China policy.”

Despite Beijing’s denial, von der Leyen reiterated on Wednesday that Europe needs to stop China from flooding the European market “with massively subsidized electric cars.”

“We have to tackle this, [and] we have to protect our industry,” she said during the party convention of the Christian Democrats in Berlin.

Duchatel said China has not been “very successful” in slowing down the EU’s economic security agenda. “I don’t think China can turn away that wave because when it comes to using [the economic security] instruments to reestablish some form of balance in our relations with China, there is a broad agreement across Europe,” he told VOA.

While there is a consensus across Europe that the EU should strengthen its capacity to defend its interests, Duchatel said there is a lack of unity in the bloc about how to build leverage against China. “We are failing in terms of having a more offensive agenda to force some concessions [from Beijing],” he told VOA.

Countries may “get some nuances in the Chinese language regarding Ukraine, or words regarding withholding tariffs on [French] brandy. [They] don’t really get anything tangible [from Beijing],” Duchatel said.

Following his meeting with Xi and von der Leyen, Macron said he welcomed China’s pledge not to supply arms to Russia, while Xi said he supports Macron’s proposal for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.

No major changes

Despite Beijing’s attempt to portray Xi’s visit as productive regarding improving EU-China relations, some analysts say they don’t expect the trip to reshape the dynamics between Beijing and Brussels.

Justyna Szczudlik, deputy head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that since France is the most important stop for Xi’s trip and Macron showcased his support for the EU’s approach toward China, she doesn’t anticipate “any huge change to EU-China relations” following Xi’s visit.

While the economic security agenda will remain the EU’s main approach to handling trade relations with China, Duchatel said many European countries say that China’s investment environment “has become very risky” and that Beijing has failed to persuade European governments that its partnership with Russia “is not something that goes against European security.”

“I don’t think Xi’s words in Paris have changed this perception, so his visit [won’t] make up for the trust lost over the last few years,” he told VOA.
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HONG KONG — Eight Chinese cities have joined a program allowing their residents to travel to Hong Kong on their own, rather than as part of a tour group, as part of efforts to boost Hong Kong’s economy. 

Hong Kong is battling to revive its economy following a national security crackdown and COVID-related controls, which led to many locals and expats leaving the city and caused tourist numbers to dwindle to a fraction of prepandemic levels. 

The Individual Visit Scheme began in 2003 as part of a cooperation agreement between mainland China and Hong Kong to boost the city’s economy by allowing Chinese residents to apply for individual travel, rather than in a tour group. 

Fifty-one cities have already joined the program and will be joined by Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Hohhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Harbin in Heilongjiang Province, Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Lanzhou in Gansu Province, Xining in Qinghai Province, Yinchuan in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

Hong Kong city leader John Lee said, “These eight cities are all provincial capital cities with large populations, significant economic growth and high spending power.” 

Although recent official figures showed the territory growing 2.7% in the first quarter compared with the year before, local businesses have described shopping malls as “dead,” with low foot traffic and shops covered with “for lease” or “coming up soon” signs. 

One lawmaker recently told the city’s legislature that more than 20,000 companies had deregistered in the first quarter of 2024, up more than 70% from the same period last year. 

China imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019. In March, authorities enacted another set of security laws that some foreign governments say further undermine rights and freedoms. 

The Hong Kong and Chinese governments have repeatedly said the security laws have brought stability.
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WASHINGTON AND SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. President Joe Biden is set to announce new tariffs on China as soon as next week, targeting strategic sectors, including electric vehicles, according to two people familiar with the matter. 

The full announcement, which could take place as soon as Tuesday, is expected to largely maintain existing levies, according to one of the people. An announcement could also be pushed back, the person said. 

The tariffs were also set to include semiconductors and solar equipment, according to one of the people. 

Details on the precise value or categories of tariffs that would be imposed were sketchy, but the administration was said to have zeroed in on areas of interest within strategic competitive and national security areas, one of the people said. 

The U.S. Trade Representative’s office made its recommendations to the White House weeks ago, but a final announcement was delayed as the package was debated internally, according to one of the sources and an additional person familiar with the matter. 

Biden, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, is looking to contrast his approach with that of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has proposed across-the-board tariffs that White House officials see as too blunt and prone to spark inflation. 

The White House and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to comment. Bloomberg News first reported the story. 

The measures could invite retaliation from China at a time of heightened tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump’s broader imposition of tariffs during his presidency prompted China to retaliate with its own levies. 

Biden has said he does not want a trade war with China even as he has said the countries have entered a new paradigm of competition. 

Both 2024 presidential candidates have sharply departed from the free-trade consensus that once reigned in Washington, a period capped by China’s joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. 

In 2022, Biden launched a review of the Trump-era policy under Section 301 of the U.S. trade law. Last month, he called for sharply higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese metal products, but the targeted products were narrow in range, estimated at more than $1 billion of steel and aluminum products, a U.S. official said. 

Biden also announced launching an investigation into Chinese trade practices across the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors, a process that could lead to more tariffs. 

The Biden administration has also been pressuring neighboring Mexico to prohibit China from selling its metal products to the United States indirectly from there. 

China has said the tariff measures are counterproductive and inflict harm on the U.S. and global economy. 
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The U.S. economy is one of the biggest issues for voters in the 2024 presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Biden campaigned this week on new tech investments. Trump says he will roll back Biden infrastructure spending and increase oil drilling. VOA’s Scott Stearns has the story.
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