Economics

China’s Workers, Companies Fear Economic Crisis As Beijing Vows To ‘Fight To The End’ On US Tariffs

Authored by Leo Timm via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People and businesses across China are feeling the pressure as the Chinese authorities vow staunch resistance to the United States and the Trump administration’s tough approach to trade and bilateral relations.
Workers check machines at a factory that produces silk cloth in Fuyang, in eastern Anhui Province, China, on April 16, 2025. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese companies, workers, and industry insiders have reported being caught in a bind by the escalating U.S. tariffs, as usual orders are not coming in, and some companies are being compelled to take extreme measures.

While Chinese social media is flooded with anti-U.S. propaganda and nationalist content, posts and videos warning of mass layoffs and prolonged “vacations” offer some indication of the unease spreading throughout an export-driven economy already struggling with high unemployment, shrinking profits, and declining foreign investment.

On April 11, U.S. President Donald Trump hiked the blanket tariff on most Chinese products to 145 percent in response to the Chinese regime slapping its own 125 percent retaliatory duty on American goods the same day.

In addition, Beijing on April 14 restricted the export of seven types of rare earth products critical for high-tech and military manufacturing in the United States and other countries.

According to a White House fact sheet published on April 15, some Chinese products may now face U.S. tariffs of up to 245 percent.

Trump has cited unfair trade practices and illegal drug trafficking as reasons for imposing the levies on Chinese goods.

Washington, particularly starting with the first Trump administration, has long called out the Chinese regime for decades of distortionary and protectionist economic policies, as well as rampant industrial espionage.

Trump also criticized Beijing for failing to curb the production and export of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which often entered the United States through Mexico.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a December 2024 press release that more than 107,000 people died from drug overdose in 2023, with nearly 70 percent of those deaths linked to opioids such as fentanyl.

Chinese Companies Feel the Crunch

Li Meng-chü, a Taiwanese businessman, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the heightened U.S. tariffs will force a significant number of export-oriented factories in China to scale back their businesses or close entirely.

The owner of a factory that makes flashlights in the city of Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, told The Epoch Times that while export companies used to place three or four bulk orders with the factory a month, business has completely dried up as of late. Many workers who used to work six days a week now take three or four days off.

Li, the Taiwanese businessman, said that to his knowledge, factories in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong that produce electronics, garments, and lighting that had U.S. orders placed through to the end of the year, have now seen those orders abruptly canceled. Much stock has been left sitting in the factories.

The South…

US And Iran Conclude Second Round Of Nuclear Talks, Agree To Third

Authored by Andrew Thornebrooke via The Epoch Times,

Iran and the United States have ended their second round of talks aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear weapons development and agreed to hold a third next week.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and presidential envoy Steve Witkoff held the second round of talks in Rome on April 19.

As with the first round of talks, which were held in the Omani capital of Muscat last week, the pair negotiated indirectly through an Omani official who shuttled messages between the two sides.

Witkoff and Araghchi interacted with one another briefly at the end of the first round of talks, but officials from the two countries have not held direct negotiations since 2015 under President Barack Obama.

The pair agreed on Saturday to meet again in Oman on April 26. Additional experts from both sides will also meet between now and that time, suggesting that there has been some movement in the second round of talks between the two countries.

The experts will discuss details of a possible deal on a technical level, according to Iran.

“The talks were held in a constructive environment and I can say that is moving forward,” Araghchi told Iranian state television. “I hope that we will be in a better position after the technical talks.”

The high-stakes talks largely hinge on Witkoff and Araghchi’s ability to find common ground on Iran’s nuclear program and regional security issues.

Araghchi said ahead of the talks that Tehran was committed to diplomacy and called on “all parties involved in the talks to seize the opportunity to reach a reasonable and logical nuclear deal.”

“Such an agreement should respect Iran’s legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work,” Araghchi said, according to Iranian state media.

Tehran has sought to tamp down expectations of a quick deal, however, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said this week he was “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic” that a deal would be reached.

Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Capability in Focus

It is unclear what the current contours of negotiations hinge on. Iranian officials last week said the initial rounds of talks would be focused on laying out each party’s position and any red lines.

To that end, U.S. President Donald Trump has made preventing Tehran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon a priority of his foreign policy platform. He appears willing to allow the Middle Eastern country to maintain its nuclear power facilities, provided its uranium enrichment is brought to lower thresholds.

“I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. [But] I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”

Trump first sent a letter to Khamenei in March, suggesting a new deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran refused at the time.

Since then, Trump has doubled down on his stance that the United States “can’t let [Iran] have…

‘Cyborg 1.0’: World’s First Robocop Debuts With Facial Recognition And 360° Camera Vision

Thailand has debuted the world’s first ‘Robocop’ designed to detect and prevent crime with advanced AI.
Royal Thai Police/Facebook

Equipped with 360-degree cameras for eyes, the cutting-edge cyborg maintains constant surveillance with real-time monitoring. The robocop, named Police Colonel Nakhonpathom Plod Phai, meaning “Nakhonpathom is safe,” was unveiled during the Songkran festival in Nakhon Pathom province on Wednesday. The debut was announced via a Facebook post by the Royal Thai Police, according to a report by The Sun.
The robocop has cameras for eyes… Royal Thai Police/Facebook

The robocop is also able to detect weapons, such as knives and wooden batons. In neighboring China, humanoid robots have started supporting police patrols.

Interesting Engineering reports:

In Shenzhen, PM01 model robots developed by EngineAI have been deployed alongside officers, wearing high-visibility police vests. These robots have been seen engaging with pedestrians—waving, shaking hands, and responding to voice commands—according to local media reports. A recent video shows a PM01 robot waving to a crowd, sparking curiosity about its purpose in law enforcement.

First launched in December 2024, the PM01 features agile mobility, an interactive touchscreen, and an open-source platform. This design allows developers worldwide to contribute to its evolution by adding new features and capabilities through secondary development.

Last year, Logon Technology, a Chinese robotics company, unveiled the RT-G autonomous spherical robot, described as a “technological breakthrough,” with an army of these spherical robocops spotted rolling through cities across China, The Sun said. The robocop’s debut underscores the growing importance of robot technology. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting, CEO Elon Musk revealed the the company is preparing aiming to begin the production of its own humanoid, Optimus, this year.

ELON MUSK: “This year we hope to make about 5,000 Optimus robots…but even 5,000 robots is the size of a Roman legion FYI. That’s a scary thought, a legion of robots. I think we’ll literally build a legion of robots this year, and maybe 10 legions next year? It’s kind of a… pic.twitter.com/R992X5OA8r
— Autism Capital (@AutismCapital) March 21, 2025
“This year, we hopefully will be able to make about 5,000 Optimus robots,” Musk said. “We’re technically aiming for enough parts to make 10,000, maybe 12,000, but since it’s a totally new product with a totally new, like everything is totally new, I’ll say we’re succeeding if we get to half go the 10,000.”

“But even 5,000 robots, that’s the size of a Roman legion, FYI, which is like a little scary thought. Like a whole legion of robots, I’ll be like ‘whoa.’ But I think we will literally build a legion, at least one legion of robots this year, and then probably 10 legions next year. I think it’s kind of a cool unit, you know? Units of legion. So probably 50,000-ish next year,” the world’s richest man added.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 04/19/2025 – 07:35…

Extraordinary US-China Cyber Meeting Revealed

Authored by John Mills via The Epoch Times,

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed an unprecedented meeting that occurred in December 2024, which addressed the ongoing series of cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. In this meeting, described as a “summit,” about 12 U.S. national security officials engaged in candid discussions with their Chinese counterparts.

This meeting marked the first acknowledgment by China that the Volt Typhoon and the Salt Typhoon cyber intrusions originated from the Chinese regime.

“The Chinese official’s remarks at the December meeting were indirect and somewhat ambiguous, but most of the American delegation in the room interpreted it as a tacit admission and a warning to the U.S. about Taiwan, a former U.S. official familiar with the meeting said,” the Journal reported.

Chinese Cyber Assaults

Volt Typhoon was first publicly reported in early 2023, as Microsoft and the Department of Homeland Security revealed cyber intrusions into critical infrastructure in Guam. A Chinese state-sponsored group was the announced culprit, and one U.S. official said this was part of a broader Chinese intelligence-gathering system.

The department’s Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an advisory with perhaps a new cybersecurity buzz phrase of “living off the land.” One article posited whether this event signaled preparation for a Chinese attack.

In 2024, congressional testimony by then-FBI Director Wray and then-CISA Director Jen Easterly was sobering. Easterly characterized the Chinese actions starkly, saying, “This is truly an ‘Everything Everywhere, All at Once’ scenario.”

The Journal article, published on April 10, provided further information on the motives of the Chinese regime. “The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S. policy support for Taiwan … underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate,” the report said.

Leadership Accountability for Cyber Failures

In his first term, President Donald Trump’s initial executive order on cybersecurity stressed one theme: leadership accountability.

The executive order states: 

“The President will hold heads of executive departments and agencies (agency heads) accountable for managing cybersecurity risk to their enterprises. In addition, because risk management decisions made by agency heads can affect the risk to the executive branch as a whole, and to national security, it is also the policy of the United States to manage cybersecurity risk as an executive branch enterprise.”

To clarify, the executive order said that cyber breaches would be considered a direct reflection of the senior leadership of the affected departments and agencies.

The revelation of the December 2024 Geneva meeting may provide further background on the recent leadership changes at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Beijing’s cyber campaign has been relentless since early 2023 and includes the full spectrum of U.S. critical infrastructure, including power, water, telecommunications, air traffic control, and maritime navigation-related systems.

A Cyber ‘Plucking’ to Ensure Best Leadership

Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, Trump’s initial national security adviser during his first term, told me “there are more flag officers [generals and admirals] that need to go,” pointing out that “this is a ‘Marshall Moment’ to effect these changes.”

This refers to…

Lab Leak: White House Unveils Massive Report On The True Origins Of COVID 19

The Trump administration on Friday published an in-depth look at how Dr. Anthony Fauci and US intelligence agencies suppressed the lab-leak theory behind COVID-19 for political purposes.

“Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency. Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions,” reads a new White House webpage.

And while we’re still waiting on those pre-dawn raids – i.e. any semblance of accountability, today’s disclosure from the White House is a breath of fresh air over a ‘theory’ that sites like ZeroHedge and The Federalist were punished for suggesting. Millions in ad revenue evaporated after USAID-funded censorship organizations began public character assassination campaigns in conjunction with MSM outlets – all in an effort to cover up the truth.

To wit, within 48 hours of a Fauci underling flagging a ZeroHedge article for review, we were banned from Twitter following an BuzzFeed hit piece by a reporter who was subsequently fired for plagiarism. In the ensuing weeks we were banned by Amazon and Google’s ad platforms over content that had never been an issue until that point (and while we’ve made up with Google, Amazon continues to blacklist ZeroHedge – probably for continuing to make fun of Jeff Bezos’ dick-shaped rocket playing second fiddle to SpaceX).

Months later, Twitter restored our account – citing an “error” (as lab-leak evidence coincidentally began to pile up elsewhere).

To keep the lights on, ZeroHedge launched our premium service – and more recently, the ZH Store, where loyal readers routinely cause us to sell out of hats, shirts, knives, and the unsurprisingly popular ZeroHedge multitool. Needless to say, we appreciate your support.

Diving Right In

Today’s damning release from the White House goes into extensive detail about the COVID-19 coverup by key players.

1. The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.

2. Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.

3. Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels.

4. Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.

5. By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.

“The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” publication – which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory – was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated in nature.

GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH:

A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely the origin of COVID-19. Current government mechanisms for overseeing this dangerous gain-of-function research are…