China Economy with Fexingo: Beijing's Policies, Trade, and Asia-Pacific Markets

China's trade surplus with the US is narrowing, but exports of goods and services hit a record $3.5 trillion in 2025. Lucas and Luna unpack the latest trade balance data, the yuan at 6.79, and how Chinese companies like Alibaba and Pinduoduo are navigating a shifting global landscape. They explore whether Beijing's policy of managed depreciation and currency swaps is still working, and what the wi...

This episode zeroes in on China's mounting youth unemployment — which hit 18.2 percent in May 2026 — and how it's reshaping everything from consumer spending to social stability. Lucas and Luna discuss why the official urban jobless rate, at 5.4 percent, masks the severity for 16-to-24-year-olds, and how the government's patchwork of gig-economy absorption and state-sector hiring is failing to kee...

China's industrial overcapacity isn't just a domestic problem — it's reshaping global pricing in steel, solar panels, and lithium batteries. On this episode of China Economy with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine how Chinese exports have driven down prices of key industrial goods by 20-40 percent over the past year, and what that means for manufacturers in Europe, India, and Southeast Asia. They dig...

Episode 102: Lucas and Luna explore a quiet but significant shift in China's local government finance: distressed municipal authorities are selling land parcels to tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance at deep discounts in exchange for jobs and tax revenue. Using the case of Hangzhou's recent sale of a 200-acre plot to Alibaba's cloud division for just 30% of assessed value, the hosts b...

China's June inflation data shows consumer prices barely rising while producer prices hit a near-4-year high. Lucas and Luna drill into this divergence: why weak household demand is compressing margins for Chinese manufacturers, how the property downturn continues to suppress spending, and what it means for investors watching companies like Alibaba and JD.com. They also discuss why the People's Ba...

Episode 100 of China Economy with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna examine the sharp rally in Chinese tech stocks this week — Alibaba up over 11%, KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF gaining 5.3%, and the broader FXI ETF climbing nearly 5%. They drill into what's driving the move: renewed hopes for a US-China trade detente, a weaker dollar, and Beijing's latest stimulus signals. The hosts discuss how the yu...

Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, whose parent PDD has seen its US-listed shares surge 8.2% over the past five days as of July 8, 2026, is rewriting the playbook for value retail in a slowing economy. Lucas and Luna unpack how PDD's group-buying model and focus on low-tier cities have turned it into a $200 billion-plus juggernaut, even as rivals like Alibaba and JD.com struggle with margin press...

China's Belt and Road Initiative is going green, and the financing tool of choice is the green bond. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how Beijing is using green bonds to fund infrastructure projects across Asia and Africa, from solar farms in Pakistan to hydropower in Indonesia. We look at the numbers: China issued over $90 billion in green bonds in 2025, more than any other country, and a...

Lucas and Luna examine a surprising trend in the AI landscape: Chinese AI models like DeepSeek and Baidu's Ernie are increasingly being adopted by US companies, as costs for OpenAI and Anthropic surge. They break down the numbers behind the shift, including China's AI exports growing 25% year-over-year and the yuan trade-weighted index impact. Using recent data on PDD's 9.4% surge and the FXI's 2....

China controls roughly 60% of global rare earth mining and 90% of processing. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how Beijing is tightening export controls on rare earth magnets and refining technologies, using data from the latest trade balance and the yuan-dollar peg at 6.80. They discuss the impact on Western defense supply chains and the slow progress of alternatives like the MP Materials...

China's national carbon market expanded from power generation to cement and aluminium in early 2026, making it the world's largest emissions trading system by volume. Lucas and Luna examine how Beijing is using allowance auctions to set a de facto carbon price that influences global supply chains, especially for steel and solar exports. They discuss the impact on corporate compliance costs, the ro...

China's population fell for a third straight year in 2025, with births hitting a record low. Lucas and Luna examine how demographic decline is already reshaping two sectors: residential real estate and the pension system. They look at the maths behind the shrinking workforce—China's working-age population dropped by 5 million last year alone—and what that means for housing demand in tier-2 cities...

China now produces over 80 percent of the world's solar polysilicon, wafers, cells, and modules. As the EU and US impose new tariffs on Chinese solar imports, Beijing is pivoting to build out domestic renewable energy capacity and export factories to Southeast Asia. Lucas and Luna examine the economics of China's solar overcapacity, the impact on global clean energy prices, and whether the strateg...

China's domestic tourism sector exploded over China's National Day holiday in early July 2026, with hotel bookings up 40% year-over-year and domestic air travel surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 18%. Lucas and Luna dive into how this travel boom is reshaping retail spending patterns, boosting local consumer brands, and creating winners in travel-related stocks like JD (up 4.8% over the past five d...

China's push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is accelerating, with new fabrication plants and design houses emerging despite US export controls. But the road is bumpy: domestic chipmakers are struggling with yields and advanced node access. Lucas and Luna break down the latest data — including a surge in Chinese chip imports from alternative suppliers — and discuss what it means for global tech...

China has been quietly expanding bilateral currency swap agreements with trading partners to reduce reliance on the US dollar in cross-border trade. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down how these swaps work, why they matter for global finance, and what the latest data on China's yuan internationalization reveals. They discuss the size of China's swap network, the geopolitical motivations beh...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine China's accelerating push into electric vehicle battery recycling, driven by surging EV adoption and strategic dependence on imported lithium and cobalt. They discuss the scale of the challenge: by 2030, China could have over 500,000 tonnes of retired batteries annually. The conversation highlights the key players like CATL's Brunp subsidiary, which has inve...

China's electric vehicle exports surged past 1.5 million units in 2025, making it the world's largest EV exporter. But that success is triggering a wave of retaliatory tariffs and new trade barriers from the EU and US. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the numbers behind China's EV export boom, the specific tariffs targeting BYD and other Chinese automakers, and how Beijing is fighting ba...

Episode 87 of China Economy with Fexingo: Lucas and Luna examine the yuan's surprising stability at 6.80 per dollar through mid-2026 — a flat line while trade tensions simmer and the dollar index drifts lower. They unpack why Beijing is actively managing the currency to preserve export competitiveness, how this affects Chinese stocks (FXI up 0.9%, PDD up 12.6% in a week), and whether the strategy...

In this episode of China Economy with Fexingo, hosts Lucas and Luna explore how the weakening US dollar is boosting Chinese equities. With the trade-weighted dollar index slipping to 120.9 and the yuan steady at 6.80 per dollar, Chinese stocks listed in the US have rallied. KWEB, the China internet ETF, surged 6.8% in the past five days, while Baidu jumped 14%. The hosts discuss the mechanics: a s...

China produces over 70% of the world's lithium-ion batteries, but a wave of used EV batteries is about to hit the recycling stream. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how Beijing is racing to build a closed-loop supply chain for battery materials, the companies positioning themselves in the recycling sector, and whether this could reduce China's reliance on imported lithium and cobalt. They d...

Episode 84 of China Economy with Fexingo examines the new EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, which kicked in this month. Lucas and Luna break down the numbers: a 27.4% additional duty on BYD and 48.1% on SAIC, plus the broader trade balance context. They discuss how Chinese EV makers are responding—shifting production to Hungary and Morocco—and whether the tariff wall will slow EV ado...

China's factory activity grew faster than expected in June 2026, driven by surging tech export demand. Lucas and Luna break down the surprising Purchasing Managers' Index data, explore why semiconductor and electronics exports are booming despite trade tensions, and debate whether this can offset weakness in consumer spending and real estate. They discuss the divergence between manufacturing stren...

China's youth unemployment rate hit a record 20.8% in May 2026, sparking a shift in consumer behavior among young urban workers. Lucas and Luna examine how this demographic pressure is hitting e-commerce platforms like PDD and JD, with spending on non-essential goods dropping 12% year-over-year. They also explore government responses, including expanded vocational training and subsidies for privat...

Today's episode examines China's latest escalation in its technology export control campaign: broadening restrictions on shipments to Japan, specifically targeting drone makers, nuclear firms, and defense research institutes. Lucas and Luna discuss what's driving this move—retaliation for Japan's semiconductor equipment export curbs, plus a message to the U.S. ahead of trade talks. They unpack the...