Tesla’s top brass, employees, and shareholders must be charged up about the surfeit of good news in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over roughly the past three months after the world’s most famous electric vehicle (EV) firm hit a slew of potholes there. In late April, PRC Premier Li Qiang hosted Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Hot Topics for MNCs, Cool Analysis*
July 18th, 2024
March 26th, 2024
The United States (U.S.) government (USG) has long wanted to enervate TikTok, which hosts short-form videos and whose owner is China’s ByteDance. USG and subnational efforts have come in the form of Presidential Executive Orders, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) divestiture orders, proposed legislation in the US Congress, limitations by states like Montana and Texas, and restrictive measures at universities.
January 5th, 2024
The United States (US) has long been protective when it comes to its automotive sector as amply demonstrated by its high pickup truck tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and trade demands. Anxieties about job losses, interest in preserving American manufacturing, desires to defend America’s auto export share, concerns about trade deficits, and domestic politics all have played a role. These factors remain relevant, but new ones have been added to the mix.
October 4th, 2023
At the September 2023 Group of 20 meeting in New Delhi, the United States (US), India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the European Union (EU), and various European countries such as Germany signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
June 14th, 2023
The United States (US) has been striving for some time to hinder China’s acquisition of technology-related hardware, software, and intellectual property (IP) through export controls, limits on Chinese investment in American high-tech firms, and even investigations of researchers tied to Chinese universities and think tanks. The goal ostensibly is to prevent Beijing from acquiring technology that would bolster China’s military capabilities.
March 26th, 2023
China’s 20th Party Congress in October 2022 and its March 2023 “Two Sessions” revealed the new top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), confirmed China’s top government officials, shed light on the CCP’s current agenda, concerns, and dogmas, promulgated new policies, and presented the government’s work program.
December 29th, 2022
The United States (US) Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), part of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has a variety of duties, one of which is to “inspect registered public accounting firms’ audits and quality control systems.” It had been unable to do this, however, in the case of many US-listed Chinese companies because Beijing would not permit any accounting firms to share Chinese audits.
October 11th, 2022
The sky for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the People’s Republic of China (PRC/China) is falling per a slew of recent news articles. The evidence? A large percentage of China inward FDI (IFDI) is from Hong Kong and a notable percentage of this money is “round tripping” (i.e., money flowing from the PRC through Hong Kong and then back to the PRC).
July 6th, 2022
At the recent Group of Seven (G-7) meeting in Germany, the attending countries put forth the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment” (PGII), which is a revised version of the Build Better Back World (B3W) scheme that was launched at last year’s G-7 meeting. While there was never any concrete figure attributed to B3W, the United States (US) touted B3W would catalyze “hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure investment” for developing countries.
March 7th, 2022
Didi Global retreats from its announced decision to cease operations in Russia. Chinese businesses in Ukraine have taken various steps to protect their workers and projects following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Indian tax officials launch tax probe of Huawei’s offices in India, raising further concerns about India’s stance towards Chinese tech companies. China Unicom Global criticizes the United States (US) Federal Communication Commission’s decision to terminate the operating license of its US subsidiary. As part of its contribution to Western sanctions against Russia, Japan institutes various economic sanctions against Russian businesses in Japan and implements a number of export restrictions, too. Extant Japanese economic sanctions against Russia and the possibility of more increase Japanese corporate concerns about the adverse ramifications for payments, operations in Russia, and lost export sales. The Korea Communications Commission tells both Apple and Google that they need to redo their plans for complying with Korea’s Telecommunication Business Act which has ramifications for in-app payment systems. Korean construction firms encounter multiple challenges as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of economic sanctions on Russia.