China Seeks to Slow Yuan's Gains After Months of Propping It Up

The dollar's extended slide has prompted China's central bank to change tack in managing its currency, as it pivots from supporting the yuan to guarding against the risk of a rapid appreciation.
The People's Bank of China has set the yuan's daily fixing at a slightly weaker level than market forecasts this week, after setting it stronger for most of the past six months. The PBOC is also on track to pause bill sales in Hong Kong for a third month, the longest run since 2018, leaving liquidity ample and easing upward pressure on the yuan.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Politico

an hour ago

• Politico

‘We can't wait forever': GOP frustrated but unwilling to act on Trump's TikTok extension

President Donald Trump's latest move to keep TikTok alive is yet again frustrating congressional Republicans, many of whom object to China's continued involvement in the popular app but just want to be done with the whole drama. 'Not my favorite thing,' Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along-time proponent of the ban, deadpanned, when asked about the president's plan to issue another extension. He spoke a day before the White House confirmed Trump signed a 90-day suspension of enforcement of the law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its China-based parent company, throwing another lifeline to the short-form video app. By Friday, some House lawmakers registered a note of resigned irritation. The extension — Trump's third since the law went into effect on Jan. 19 — is a unilateral decision not envisioned in the bipartisan law passed by Congress and upheld last year by the Supreme Court. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence and China committees, told POLITICO. 'The national security concerns and vulnerabilities are still there, and they have not gone away. I would argue they've almost become more enhanced in many ways.' But Trump's extension of the TikTok law largely boxed out Republicans in both chambers who have shown little inclination — beyond stern words — to prevent him from making these postponements almost routine. Many GOP lawmakers saw themselves as granting the president space to cut a promised deal while the White House deals with urgent priorities, like trade negotiations and the Israel-Iran conflict. 'In light of everything going on, I think he did the right thing,' Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a China hawk who voted for the ban, told POLITICO of Trump. 'I have concerns about all kinds of things — that [the extension] is on the list — but it's not at the top of the list.' Though Trump has promised his TikTok negotiations areclosely tied to trade talks with China, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified last week to a Senate panel that TikTok's sale was not currently a part of the negotiations with China, raising a further potential obstacle to Trump inking a deal in the near future. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the president and longtime national-security hawk said earlier in the week: 'The sooner we get that issue solved, the better,' without offering any ideas for further enforcement. 'I just want finality,' Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO. 'I want some certainty and just know that the Congress isn't being played when we make a decision [that the app] be sold.' Another member of the House China Committee, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), told POLITICO, 'No more extensions. It's time to follow through.' Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), also a member of the China panel, noted in a post on X Thursday the law only allows one extension of the compliance deadline, adding, 'I was proud to support the ban of TikTok and believe the law should be implemented as written.' With their comments, the lawmakers echoed House China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who in early June called for the U.S. to 'let [TikTok] go dark' to bring China to the table to negotiate. He reiterated that stance on Friday. 'Delays only embolden the Chinese Communist Party,' Moolenaar said in a statement to POLITICO. 'I urge the administration to enforce the law as written and protect the American people from this growing national security threat.' Still, observers say Republicans are not exercising their leverage to demand the White House enforce the law they helped write, for example by withholding funding or congressional oversight hearings. 'I keep reading that Republicans are 'frustrated' and 'impatient' about their TikTok law being ignored, but they should stop complaining to reporters and take it up with Trump,' said Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of the pro-tech Chamber of Progress. Among the Republicans being undercut by the president is his own secretary of state. Marco Rubio — who as senator was one of the loudest critics of TikTok's ties to China, and a huge backer of the app's ban — has been conspicuously silent as Trump has repeatedly granted more time to strike a deal for its sale. 'You have to decide what's more important, our national security and the threat that it poses to our national security,' Rubio told POLITICO in March 2023, as Congress was considering a ban. 'You have to weigh that against what you might think the electoral consequences of it are. For me, it's an easy balancing act. I mean, there is no balance. I'm always going to be for our national security.' A spokesperson for Rubio at the State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Democrats — even those who support keeping TikTok online — say Trump's approach is the wrong one. 'These endless extensions are not only illegal, but they also put TikTok's fate in the hands of risk-averse corporate shareholders,' Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told POLITICO in a statement. 'This is deeply unfair to TikTok's creators and users. I'm prepared to work towards a solution, but Trump isn't coming to the table.'

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Footwear Firms Rejiggering Supply Chains Will See Long-Term Benefits

The threat of higher tariffs may have provided footwear firms with an unintended benefit as they took charge of rethinking their supply chains. That's because U.S. President Donald Trump's return to office for his second non-consecutive term had a built-in expectation that he would make good on his promise to raise tariff rates again. More from WWD Knitwear Brand PH5 Collaborates With Charles & Keith on Capsule Collection The Top Men's Shoe Collections From Pitti Uomo's Spring 2026 Edition May Swiss Watch Exports Slump After U.S. Tariff-led Surge And raise them he did. But this time, footwear firms were better prepared. The footwear industry was under siege in the aftermath of COVID, with shipments on pause amid ongoing supply chain issues. With Chinese production costs rising, some firms were already in the midst of strategizing where else to go even before Trump raised the duty rate on imports from China during his first term back in 2019. But the nature of producing footwear meant moving production to other locations was likely a multi-year process. In the years since COVID, production remains largely in China, although Vietnamese factories had become the go-to place for the manufacture of athletic performance shoes. Indonesia, India and Cambodia are now also growing their footwear production base, as is Mexico and other Latin American countries. Firms in the footwear sector began to move more aggressively their production to other locations outside of China once Trump won re-election in November. And they moved with quick speed to get ahead of any tariff increases. At Wolverine World Wide, less than 10 percent of products are expected to be sourced from China in 2025, down from the mid-teens earlier this year, as the company targets 'near zero' by 2026. Steve Madden Ltd. in May said it had already moved nearly all fall '25 shoe production for its core brands out of China, ahead of its prior mid-teens target for fall '25 and mid single-digits in spring '26. Crocs Inc. CEO Andrew Rees has expressed concern about Vietnam, where its sourcing for the U.S. market is at 47 percent. Vietnam is set to continue with the next round of trade talks with the U.S. later this month. In April, Trump unveiled his plan for global reciprocal tariffs, a move to get countries to re-negotiate their trade agreements with the U.S. Most of those tariffs are on pause through July 9, with the tariff rate set at a temporary 10 percent increase. The exception is China, which saw subsequent increases on some goods as high as 145 percent, but that's now on hold through mid-August as the U.S. and China fine-tune a framework for an agreement that would see duties rise to 55 percent from its current pause rate of 30 percent. Regardless of which trade agreements actually get done, the rethinking of footwear supply chains is expected to be beneficial for down the road. That's true whether tariffs go up or remain the same. And while higher duties impact corporate profits, not to mention higher costs to consumers, moving production to multiple locations allows for better flexibility in keeping goods closer to where they are needed. That's because supply chain 'disruptions are here to stay,' according to Venky Ramesh, AlixPartners' trade and tariff war room expert, who was part of a webinar hosted by AlixPartners. He also spoke about the need for firms to map sourcing and supply chain exposure as well as scenario planning so they can make informed decisions. Other participants also spoke about investing in trade law knowledge, logistics and operations, as well as looking at production components to see if different classifications are possible that could result in lower tariff rates. Best of WWD All the Retailers That Nike Left and Then Went Back Mikey Madison's Elegant Red Carpet Shoe Style [PHOTOS] Julia Fox's Sleekest and Boldest Shoe Looks Over the Years [Photos] Sign in to access your portfolio

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Amazon Just Bet $4 Billion on South Korea's AI Boom -- Here's Why It Could Be a Game-Changer

Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) and SK Group are teaming up to build what could become South Korea's most powerful AI infrastructure project to date. The two giants are putting roughly $5.11 billion on the table$4 billion from AWS aloneto develop a hyperscale data center in Ulsan. Construction is scheduled to start in September, with a 100MW launch target by 2029. But that's just the beginning. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won told investors the plan is to scale to one gigawatt down the road, potentially transforming Ulsan into a global nerve center for AI computing. The announcement wasn't just corporate theater. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and tech leaders showed up in force, signaling just how strategic this move could be for the country's long-term growth. President Lee pointed out that building next-gen tech infrastructure outside the capital is more than a regional development playit might be a template for the nation's high-tech decentralization. Chey, for his part, sees the AI race as a core pillar of Korea's future economic engine. If SK can deliver on the capacity, this site may serve as a launchpad for global AI trafficnot just domestic. Investors were already connecting the dots. On Friday, AI-linked names rallied hard. SK Hynix (HXSCL) gained over 3%, Kakao popped 11%, and LG CNS surged 9%, lifting the KOSPI above 3,000 for the first time in over three years. The market response suggests traders aren't just excited about another data centerthey're betting this investment could be a catalyst for Korea's next AI leap. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.