Aurelia Butler

China warned it has “noticed reports” of iPhone-related “security incidents” and told smartphone makers to comply with the law in its first official comments following news that government bodies are cracking down on use of the US company’s devices.Beijing said that while foreign phones, including Apple’s, were not banned from China, all producers should “strictly adhere” to data protection and information security laws.“The Chinese government places a high priority on information and network security and treats both domestic and foreign companies equally,” the foreign ministry said. The remarks follow growing investor concerns that Chinese ministries, government departments and state-owned enterprises are quietly banning or discouraging more employees from using Apple devices. Reports of the measures knocked $200bn off the company’s stock last week ahead of the launch of its iPhone 15 on Tuesday and also coincided with the launch of a new 5G handset from domestic competitor, Huawei.The new iPhone Pro and Pro Max models use 3 nanometre chips from Taiwanese producer TSMC, which are more advanced than the “made in China” 7 nanometre chips used by Huawei’s new Mate 60 Pro, which has been hailed in China as an important step forward for its domestic semiconductor industry.The foreign ministry said China was committed to protecting the rights of foreign investors and creating a “market-oriented business environment”. “China has not enacted any laws, regulations, or policy documents prohibiting the purchase and use of foreign brand phones, including Apple,” it said. “However, in recent times, we have indeed noticed reports in the media regarding security incidents related to Apple iPhones.”Apple last week issued an emergency software update after a previously unknown vulnerability allowed Israel’s NSO Group to inject its Pegasus spyware remotely and surreptitiously on to iPhones and iPads.China contributes about a fifth of Apple’s revenue. Bank of America estimates that the country accounts for up to 50mn units of annual iPhone sales and that a government ban could reduce this by about 5-10mn units.A senior official in a Chinese provincial level government said on Wednesday that while there was no “official document, policy or regulation” banning iPhone use for civil servants or state-owned enterprise workers, and that the rules were oral or informal, they were nevertheless “mandatory”. “What can we do? Protest against it and lose our job?” the official said.But foreign executives in China and analysts said the government stance on official iPhone use was probably mainly intended to protect state security and to subtly warn Washington over tech controls rather than to seriously impede Apple’s business or scare off foreign investors.Experts estimate Apple indirectly supports more than 1.5mn jobs in China and is an important participant in the country’s consumer electronics industry. Unlike some other US tech groups, such as Google, Meta and Micron, which have had their products restricted or banned in China, Apple has built strong relations with various levels of government in the country. But it has also begun diversifying its supply chain to China’s strategic rivals, such as India, a move that some pro-government scholars in Beijing see as part of western efforts to decouple and “contain” the world’s second-biggest economy. Additional reporting by Nian Liu in Beijing More

STRASBOURG (Reuters) -EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric vehicles on Wednesday, presenting herself as a champion of European business as she defended her track record ahead of elections next year.Von der Leyen, who is widely expected to seek a second term as head of the EU executive next year but has yet to announce her plans, promised in her annual state of the union speech to take steps to help Europe’s wind industry, make business easier for small companies and address labour shortages. “Europe will do whatever it takes to keep its competitive edge,” she told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.”In a world of uncertainty, Europe once again must answer the call of history,” the 64-year-old former German defence minister told EU lawmakers, saying this applied to a wide array of policies, including the EU’s support for Ukraine, promotion of green energy and defence of business against unfair competition. In a speech that announced few concrete steps on the foreign policy front – Ukraine, she said, must do more before joining the bloc – the most substantial announcement was the launch of the probe into China’s electric vehicles.The Commission, she said, would investigate whether to impose punitive tariffs to protect European Union producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports it says are benefiting from excessive state subsidies. “Europe is open to competition. Not for a race to the bottom,” she said.Von der Leyen, who has been at the head of the bloc’s executive Commission since the end of 2019, also said she would appoint an envoy to help small and medium-sized enterprises tackle red tape to make it easier to do business.’GREAT STRIDES’In her last State of the Union speech before European Parliament elections next June, she said the Commission was proposing to extend special protections granted to Ukrainian citizens who fled to the EU to escape Russia’s war.She also restated the EU’s commitment to long-term support for Kyiv, praising the “great strides” it had made towards joining the EU but saying hard work still lay ahead.”Our support to Ukraine will endure,” she said.Lawmakers gave a standing ovation after von der Leyen recounted the fate of Victoria Amelina, a Ukrainian writer and activist who was killed in a Russian attack on Ukraine.MEPs applauded as Héctor Abad Faciolince, a Colombian writer who was wounded in the same attack, showed a photograph of Amelina to the chamber.An upcoming package to support Europe’s wind industry would be aimed at helping the sector as renewable energy companies struggle with steep inflation, von der Leyen said.”We will fast-track permitting even more. We will improve the auction systems across the EU. We will focus on skills, access to finance and stable supply chains,” she said, adding: “The future of our clean tech industry has to be made in Europe,” she said.Looking back at her track record, she told the EU assembly: “When I stood in front of you in 2019 with my programme for a green, digital and geopolitical Europe, I know that some had doubts … But look at where Europe is today.””We have seen the birth of a geopolitical Union – supporting Ukraine, standing up to Russia’s aggression, responding to an assertive China and investing in partnerships,” she said, also touting policies to promote green energy. Von der Leyen also said the wealthy bloc must engage more with African countries and accused Russia of stirring chaos in the Sahel region of the continent.”We need to show the same unity of purpose towards Africa as we have shown for Ukraine. We need to focus on cooperation with legitimate governments and regional organisations,” she said. More

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ken Griffin, the world’s most successful hedge fund manager in terms of earnings, has already donated more than $2 billion to charity during his lifetime and on Wednesday laid out a roadmap for his future philanthropic giving to find faster solutions to the world’s biggest problems.Griffin, who laid the foundations for Citadel in his Harvard dormitory, launched Griffin Catalyst (GriffinCatalyst.org), a platform that illustrates how he thinks about giving and showcases his partner organizations and how they have put his money to work.Already a big donor to schools and universities, Griffin said his giving will focus on six areas: Education, Science & Medicine, Upward Mobility, Freedom & Democracy, Enterprise & Innovation and Communities.Noting how he experienced the American Dream personally by attending Harvard and being able to found his firm, Griffin said “Through Griffin Catalyst, I look forward to continuing this work, tearing down barriers and advancing solutions in the pursuit of improving people’s lives.”Citadel, which invests $61 billion for clients, became the most successful hedge fund of all time last year when it earned $16 billion, boosting its 54-year old founder’s net worth to $35 billion, according to Forbes.Earlier this year Griffin donated $300 million to his alma mater. Previously, he led a coalition that ensured 100,000 Chicago school children had access to the Internet during the pandemic. He also worked with the U.S. State Department and other partners to help bring some 800 Americans back to the United States from Wuhan, China, at the start of the pandemic and he worked with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to drive a faster review process for therapeutics and fund early Covid 19 vaccine development. Early in his career, Griffin also donated time tutoring Chicago children in math. More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission launched an investigation on Wednesday into whether to impose punitive tariffs to protect European Union producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports it says are benefiting from state subsidies.”Global markets are now flooded with cheaper electric cars. And their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual address to the bloc’s parliament, seen by many in Brussels as a pitch for her re-appointment for a second term.The Commission will have up to 13 months to assess whether to impose tariffs above the standard 10% EU rate for cars in the its highest profile case against China since an EU probe into Chinese solar panels narrowly avoided a trade war a decade ago. The anti-subsidy investigation covers battery-powered cars from China, so also includes non-Chinese brands made there, such as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Renault (EPA:RENA) and BMW (ETR:BMWG). It is also unusual in that it is brought by the European Commission itself, rather than in response to an industry complaint.Tensions between China and the EU have been growing, partly due to Beijing’s closer ties with Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The EU is seeking to reduce its reliance on the world’s no. 2 economy, particularly for materials and products needed for its green transition.European carmakers have realised they have a fight on their hands to produce lower-cost electric vehicles and erase China’s lead in developing cheaper models.Chinese EV makers, from market-leader BYD (SZ:002594) to smaller rivals Xpeng (NYSE:XPEV) and Nio (NYSE:NIO), are stepping up efforts to expand overseas as competition intensifies at home and domestic growth eases. China’s auto exports surged 31% in August following a 63% jump in July, China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) data showed. The average retail price of a Chinese-brand electric car in Germany was 29% lower than the average for non-Chinese EV models, not counting incentives or discounts, according to Jato Dynamics, while 32% lower in France and 38% lower in the UK.The European Commission said China’s share of EVs sold in Europe has risen to 8% and could reach 15% in 2025, noting prices are typically 20% below EU-made models. Popular Chinese models exported to Europe include SAIC’s MG and Geely’s Volvo (OTC:VLVLY).Shares of Chinese EV producers fell after the EU announcement. BYD shares, which were trading 4.5% higher before the news, closed down 2.8%, while Nio fell 1% and Xpeng dropped 2.5%.Shares in Europe’s carmakers – Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p), BMW and Mercedes Benz (ETR:MBGn) and Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) – got a brief, early boost on the news before erasing most of the gains. VW was up 0.3% while Stellantis was down 0.4% at 1115 GMT.GRINDING GEARSThe influx of cheaper Chinese electric vehicles has already prompted some European carmakers to take action. Renault announced in July that it aimed to slash production costs for its electric models by 40%.Like other EV makers, France’s Renault also faces increased pressure from U.S. rival Tesla, which has cut prices several times this year even as that has eaten into its margins.But Germany’s VDA auto association said the EU must take into account a possible backlash from China to such an investigation.The VDA said policymakers should focus on creating the conditions for European players to succeed on their own turf – from lowering electricity prices to reducing bureaucratic hurdles.Germany’s car industry relies on China for a large proportion of its sales revenue and has long advocated for keeping trade doors open.At the same time Von der Leyen stressed the importance of electric vehicles to the EU’s ambitious environmental objectives.”Europe is open to competition. Not for a race to the bottom,” she told the European Parliament, noting the EU did not want to repeat the experience of its solar panel industry, which was decimated by cheaper Chinese imports.”This is the start of a long journey,” said analyst Simone Tagliapietra of think tank Bruegel. “It could ultimately work, but this must go in parallel with an active industrial policy to make sure EU industry quickly develops its competitiveness.”Chinese state subsidies for electric and hybrid vehicles were $57 billion from 2016-2022, according to consulting firm AlixPartners, helping China become the world’s biggest EV producer and to pass Japan as the largest auto exporter in the first quarter of this year.China terminated a generous 11-year subsidy scheme for EV purchases in 2022 but some local authorities have continued to offer aid or tax rebates to attract investments, as well as subsidies for consumers. The founder of Nio warned in April that Chinese EV makers should brace for the possibility that foreign governments would impose protectionist policies.He estimated his company and Chinese peers had a cost advantage of as much as 20% over rivals such as Tesla thanks to China’s grip over the supply chain and raw materials.Kingsmill Bond, senior principal in the strategy team at the Rocky Mountain Institute, said Chinese producers in 2022 benefitted from EV battery prices of $130 per kilowatt hour against a global price of $151. More

Brussels will launch an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles that are “distorting” the EU market, a probe that could constitute one of the largest trade cases launched given the scale of the market.European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced the probe in her annual address to EU lawmakers on Wednesday. “Global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars,” she said. “And as we do not accept this from the inside, we do not accept this from the outside. So I can announce today that the commission is launching an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles coming from China.”European companies were “too often . . . excluded from foreign markets”, she said in the European parliament in Strasbourg. “They are often undercut by competitors benefiting from huge state subsidies.” The investigation has been planned for months, and the EU’s concerns regarding China’s electric vehicle trade practices were conveyed by von der Leyen to Chinese premier Li Qiang in a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi last weekend, according to a person briefed on the discussion.Shares in Chinese electric-vehicle makers sold off on the prospect of greater regulatory scrutiny from Brussels, with Warren Buffett-backed BYD closing down 2.8 per cent and rival Xpeng dropping almost 2.5 per cent. Other electric carmakers, including Great Wall Motor and Li Auto, were also lower following the announcement.Action against Chinese carmakers in Europe has been demanded by some member states, notably France, concerned that major domestic carmakers risk losing their leadership as the green transition reshapes the market.The probe could constitute one of the largest trade cases launched as the EU tries to prevent a replay of what happened to its solar industry in the early 2010s when photovoltaic manufacturers undercut by cheap Chinese imports went into insolvency. If found to be in breach of trade rules, manufacturers could be hit with punitive tariffs.In the case of the solar industry, Brussels launched a tariff regime against imports of Chinese photovoltaic cells in 2012 but later scrapped the controls in order to boost installations of renewable power.“This is an important move by the commission, signalling the willingness to use trade instruments more proactively to protect the European industry and avoid the replication of the solar panels failure experience in the past to the crucial car industry,” said Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at the Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel.

Chinese carmakers have made little secret of their ambitions to dominate Europe’s electric car industry, which is the largest electric vehicle market outside China. BYD’s European boss Michael Shu previously told the Financial Times the marque intends to be in the top three brands by the end of the decade, and number one “if possible”.Sigrid de Vries, head of carmaker trade body ACEA, praised the commission for “recognising the increasingly asymmetric situation our industry is faced with, and is giving urgent consideration to distorted competition in our sector”.EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis is due to travel to Beijing next week. Many of Europe’s largest carmakers have raised the alarm on Chinese imports, saying lower energy and labour costs give them an advantage over European models.Peugeot owner Stellantis, the second-largest European carmaker, said it was considering building cheaper electric vehicles outside Europe and importing them, to compete with Chinese models.The share of Chinese car brands in the EU market has increased from less than 1 per cent in 2021 to 2.8 per cent this year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research.But in the electric vehicle market, Chinese manufacturers made 8 per cent of vehicles sold, according to automotive data analyst Inovev.Von der Leyen also announced measures to improve access to finance and improve auction systems for the wind industry, which is financial difficulty due to similar competition from China.Giles Dickson, chief executive of WindEurope, the industry body, said that the announcement was the culmination of crisis talks over the summer with the commission. “We need immediate action to support our supply chain,” he said.The EU needed to “step up” on economic security, von der Leyen said, in response to China’s own measures such as export controls on critical metals gallium and germanium. More