Xi's Southeast Asia tour promotes good-neighborliness, mutually beneficial cooperation: Chinese FM

Foreign Minister Wang Yi says Chinese President Xi Jinping's just-concluded Southeast Asia tour focused on good-neighborly relations and promoted cooperation.

President Xi visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia from Monday to Friday. It was the first overseas tour of the Chinese head of state this year.

China has signed multiple Memoranda of Understanding with each of the three countries, covering a broad range of economic and infrastructure projects.

Wang said the tour sent a strong signal that China firmly defends multilateralism and international trade rules.

China firmly opposes U.S. measures targeting its maritime, logistics, shipbuilding sectors

China has expressed strong opposition to the U.S. measures following its investigation into China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors.

A Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson says China has repeatedly reaffirmed its views on the Section 301 investigation, urging the United States to stop blaming China for its domestic industrial problems.

The spokesperson calls the U.S. measures a typical act of unilateralism and protectionism, which will gravely disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

China has urged the United States to respect the facts and multilateral rules.

Trump threatens to sack Fed chair over interest rates

U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a series of attacks against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, accusing the central bank chief of playing politics by not cutting interest rates.

Trump also hinted at moving to fire Powell, saying Powell's termination cannot come fast enough.

On Wednesday, Powell signaled that the Fed will keep its key interest rate unchanged.

He also reiterated that Trump's tariffs would likely raise inflation and slow the economy, which could make it harder to cut rates any time soon.

U.S. tariffs could cost Germany 290 bln euros: report

A new report shows U.S. tariffs could slash Germany's economic output by as much as 290 billion euros, or 330 billion U.S. dollars, over four years.

The German Economic Institute has projected an annual GDP loss of 1.6 percent for Europe's largest economy by 2028.

The report analyzes the potential fallout from the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2.

The report estimated that the EU as a whole could face cumulative losses of up to 1.1 trillion euros by 2028.

5th China International Consumer Products Expo sees 92 billion yuan in intended deals

The 5th China International Consumer Products Expo has concluded in the southern island of Hainan.

Matchmaking sessions at the expo yielded dozens of potential agreements valued at over 90 billion yuan, or 13 billion U.S. dollars.

This year’s event featured around 1,800 companies and 4,200 consumer brands from 71 countries and regions.

It attracted more than 60,000 professional buyers, up 10% from the number in the previous year.

Beijing hosts World's first humanoid robot half marathon

Twenty humanoid robots have joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21-km course.

The robots from Chinese manufacturers came in all shapes and sizes. Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race.

BMW to deepen cooperation with ByteDance on AI application

German carmaker BMW says it will deepen its collaboration with Chinese tech giant ByteDance, the owner of TikTok.

It says the partnership will help enhance artificial intelligence applications in marketing and customer service.

The German company is actively expanding its presence in China, with approximately 460 local supplier partners in the country.