Reuters Asia Business

DUESSELDORF, Germany (Reuters) -German plant and equipment makers are increasingly struggling with supply bottlenecks for rare earths, the VDMA industry association warned and called on the European Union to put more pressure on China. “We are already seeing that rare earths are no longer reaching our member companies,” VDMA president Bertram Kawlath told journalists. China, …

German engineering group calls on EU to put pressure on China over rare earths Read More »

BEIJING (Reuters) -Billions of dollars of Chinese goods have been impacted by additional U.S. tariffs since 2018, initially under the first Donald Trump presidency and later under the Biden administration. Returning to the White House this year, Trump has imposed even more duties on China. The U.S. tariffs range from those imposed under Section 301 …

Factbox-Breakdown of U.S. tariffs on China since Trump’s first term Read More »

By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s labour shortage is forcing its conservative lawmakers to consider overhauling decades-old social welfare rules originally designed to encourage married women to spend more hours looking after the home. Policymakers are expected to pass legislation on Friday that would require part-time workers to pay into pension and health-insurance schemes, essentially …

Japan’s labour crunch forces rethink on traditional homemakers Read More »

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Thai consumer confidence dropped for a fourth consecutive month in May, falling to its lowest level in 27 months, due to concerns over U.S. tariffs and a sluggish economy, a survey showed on Thursday. The consumer index of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce fell to 54.2 in May from 55.4 …

Thai consumer confidence hits 27-month low in May over U.S. tariffs Read More »

By Shoon Naing (Reuters) -Myanmar’s beleaguered economy is expected to contract by 2.5 percent in the 2025/26 fiscal year largely due to the devastating impact of a powerful earthquake in late March, the World Bank said in a report on Thursday. The World Bank said direct damages to property and infrastructure from the 7.7 magnitude …

Earthquake worsens Myanmar’s economic decline, World Bank says Read More »

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s cyber forces will not be intimidated by China’s threats of a bounty for the arrest of 20 people Beijing says are Taiwanese military hackers, and China’s legal system has no jurisdiction on the island, its defence ministry said. China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has over the past five …

Taiwan cyber unit says it will not be intimidated by China bounty offer Read More »