Finance & economics | Steel yourself

Xi Jinping risks setting off another trade war

Why Western politicians should prepare for a second “China shock”

Steel workers on an assembly line at the steel production workshop in Huai’an, China.
Photograph: Getty Images
|Singapore

China’s leaders are obsessed with lithium-ion batteries, electric cars and solar panels. These sorts of technologies will, Xi Jinping has proclaimed, become “pillars of the economy”. He is spending big to ensure this happens—meaning, in the years to come, that his ambitions will be felt across the world. A manufacturing export boom could very well lead to a trade war.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Steel yourself”

From the January 13th 2024 edition

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