German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed overcapacity in world steel markets and agreed on Saturday to work on solutions within the framework of the G20 group of industrialized nations, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
In a telephone discussion, the two newly re-elected leaders emphasized close ties between the two countries, both facing planned US steel and aluminum tariffs, and agreed to deepen their strategic partnership, Seibert said in a statement.
They also underscored the importance of multilateral cooperation on global trade, a pointed response to an accelerating shift away from multilateral action and institutions by the US under US President Donald Trump.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese state news agency Xinhua said Xi told Merkel that the two countries should “become advocates for new-type international relations” and become cooperation partners despite their ideological differences, with cooperation to be pushed forward within the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“China-Germany relations will steadily proceed far as long as they adhere to equality and mutual respect, understand and care for each other’s core interests and major concerns, and properly control and handle their differences,” Xinhua said, attributing the comments to Xi.
US officials have said they would seek to work with “like-minded” countries at the G20 finance leaders meeting early next week in Argentina to push back against China’s state subsidies and investment policies.
The Merkel-Xi call came amid tensions between the US, Europe and China over US tariffs, and China’s rejection of US legislation encouraging an exchange of officials between the US and Taiwan.
Merkel and Xi “discussed the problem of global overcapacities in the steel market and backed continued efforts to work toward solutions in the framework of the G20 Global Forum [on Steel Excess Capacity],” Seibert said, referring to a body initiated at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China, in 2016.
“In this regard, they emphasized the importance of close multilateral cooperation on trade,” he said.
Trump has criticized Germany and China for their trade surpluses with the US since taking office last year.
Merkel on Saturday said Germany’s trade surpluses were narrowing due to rising domestic demand, and the government would continue to try to support that trend.
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier is to visit Washington this week to press for an exemption from US steel and aluminum tariffs as part of a broad push by the EU to reverse the US sanctions.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is to discuss the issue at the G20 meeting in Argentina with US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin.
The planned US tariffs violated the principles of the WTO and the dispute should be resolved via talks if possible, Merkel said on Friday.
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS