Unrest in Los Angeles: What’s sparking the city’s latest storm?
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Official data shows steady growth in China's goods trade during the first five months. UNESCO aspirates calling for stronger global cooperation and highlights China's growing leadership in ocean governance.

Tensions rise in Los Angeles as thousands of protesters took to the streets after Washington's deployment of National Guard. Welcome to Road Today, a news program with a different perspective. I'm Ge'Anna in Beijing. To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Road Today.

China's goods trade continued to grow in the first five months of the year. According to customs authorities, foreign trade totaled nearly 18 trillion yuan, or around 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars, a 2.5 percent rise compared to the same period last year. The number of foreign-invested enterprises engaged in import and export activity has surpassed 73,000, the highest for the same period in five years.

Officials say the data highlights China's ongoing appeal as a stable, secure and promising environment for international investors, despite a challenging global economic landscape. So what are the key drivers behind this growth? And what does it signal about the Chinese economy and its engagement with the world? To help us understand the broader implications, we're joined now by Dr. Yao Shujie, Chang Kong Professor of Economics at Chongqing University.

Professor, let's start with the headline figure. China's total imports and exports grew by 2.5% year-on-year in the first five months. What do you see as the main factors behind the resilience of China's exports during this period?

I'm very pleased to see the first five months trade figures, 2.5%. It's very encouraging because you look at the figures in January and February, it was in the negative territory.

and 2.5% is now higher than the first three months and the first four months. So this means that the international trade is actually increasing rather than decreasing as people may expect because of the US Sino-Trader war is ongoing. I think there are a number of factors that we can see that explain the encouraging statistical figures.

First of all, China is able to diversify international trade away from the United States to EU, to ASEAN, and to the bear and low countries in particular. And secondly, the Chinese export quality

appear to have increasing gradually because the proportion of high quality manufacturing goods is increasing and also the logistic support is very strong. The platform in China is a free trade zone and also the key cities, they are proven to be very important for supporting China's trade resilience.

And the third factor, I think, is the private sector and also to some extent the processing trade has been picking up. So this kind of diversification in terms of the trade structure, trade destination changes, and also the technological changes.

upgrading, proving that China's trade has a very strong international resilience in competitive events. In terms of trade patterns, we've seen significant growth in China's trade with ASEAN and the European Union. Meanwhile, trade with Belt and Road partner countries was up 4.2%. So how do you interpret these shifts in China's trade structure?

Yeah, I think it's very interesting to note the trade with the bear and low countries is increasingly more important. And the trade growth with the bear and low countries are growing faster than the average growth in the global level. And secondly, I think EU and ASEAN

Partly because of the recovery of the EU country and partly because of the strong economic base and dynamism and also the potential for China's export to the ASEAN 10-nation national state. So this means that China, after so many years of regional cooperation, has proved to be very fruitful.

at a time when China needs this kind of diversification and also needs to increase the resilience despite the external environment which is highly complicated. Particularly some countries such as the United States are using Protestantism and Unilateralism to slow down the bilateral trade between not only China and the United States but also with other parts of the world.

This particular background, I think, is very important for China to enhance this regional cooperation and also the big initiative such as the bail-in road, which provided a very good platforming mechanism for China's export and import. About the product structure, Professor, mechanical and electrical products made up around 60% of exports.

Notably, exports of data processing equipment, integrated circuits, and automobiles showed strong growth. So how would you assess the global competitiveness of China's manufacturing sector today based on these figures?

If we look at the export structure of manufacturing goods, data processing and electrical circuits, those are high-value and high-tech products. This means that China's export is not only very good in terms of the volume and also the volume increase, but also it's the structural shift toward the high technological sector.

including the new energy vehicles is now penetrating into many parts of the world and also some other products such as new energy battery and so on.

This is very encouraging because China is not only moving away to the low-tech manufacturing, to the middle and high-tech manufacturing, but also it seems that China in some special area, it proved to be playing a very dominant and increasingly dominant position in the international trade system.

At the enterprise level, private firms now account for over 57% of China's total trade, making them the driving force behind the country's foreign trade sector. So what does this rising sharing of private sector activity say about the dynamism and vitality of the Chinese economy?

The private sector is the backbone of the Chinese economy. And this proved to be the so-called Chinese socialist market system is now working very well. The socialist market system

have two special features. One is the relationship between the government and the market. And the second is the state-owned and the private enterprises. The state-owned is focusing on the strategic sectors, but the private sector is very vibrant in terms of providing employment, export, and also technological innovation and the flexibility

after the private sector is now fully encouraged by government policy. You know, you can see lots of policies are encouraging the private sector to become more and more important in the Chinese economy system.

And this is exactly reflected in the structural shift of the total trade volume. Increasing proportion of trade is now explained by the private sector and it is getting stronger over time. So it is really encouraging in terms of building up not only the private sector, but also to increase China's resilience to the external shock that we are talking about nowadays.

Let's also talk about trade models. Processing trade expanded by over 6%, while bonded logistics exports surged by about 16%. What does this say about China's ongoing innovation in foreign trade models, and what role are platforms like free trade zones and cross-border e-commerce playing in transforming and upgrading China's trade?

Yeah, the bounding logistics is a very good example. It grows by 16%, which is remarkably higher than the national average. But the underlying factors of the bounding logistics is the digital technologies. I think the digital technology is helping China to move the export by reducing the export cost, the transportation information cost,

through the digitalization and through the so-called production services, which is accounting and building into the merchandise trade system. Now the platform that you mentioned about is because China is a very vast country and there are so many capacities and differences between regions and locations, especially the cities.

So by building the so-called free trade zone in the city, the local government in particular, they are able to focus their effort in building up the trade system, regulations, convenience of trade products moving across the border.

which is a very useful way to facilitate international trade by reducing the frictions of movement of goods and services. In particular, it reduces the trade cost so that China's exports would enjoy a better competitive advantage in the international market.

Professor, finally, zooming out to the global picture, with a world economy facing multiple challenges, how does the resilience of China's foreign trade create new market opportunities for developing countries?

China nowadays is the biggest trading economy. To some extent, it's bigger than even the United States. And because China is so big and the Chinese demand and supply is so complex, it provides a lot of complementarity and also a lot of potential for other countries for international trade activities.

So, the stability and resilience and also the ability of the Chinese export market to expand, it provides not only a fairly stable market, but also a rising opportunity for many foreign countries, especially the countries that we discussed about along the bail and loan initiative.

Most of them are developing countries. Most of them require a very stable and resilient foreign trade market for boosting their economic development and international trade. So China's stability and resilience is very important. It provides a very solid foundation or a steady anchor

of foreign trade at the global level and this kind of stability and resilience is particularly important for the developing countries who are desperately to have a big trading partner by the way china is not the biggest trading partners for over 140 countries in the world

out of nearly 200 countries at the global level. So China's role is very important in this process. And I hope that in the future that people get more and more interconnected with China, either from the global level or multilateral level cooperation in terms of international trade and cross-border investment.

Thanks, Professor, for those valuable insights. That was Dr. Yao Shujie, Chang Kong Professor of Economics at Chongqing University. Coming up, UNESCO expert is calling for stronger global cooperation and highlights China's growing leadership in ocean governance. This is Road Today. Stay with us. Hello, my name is Alessandro Golombievs Teixeira. I'm a professor of public policy management at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

I am a great listener of The Wall Today. In my opinion, The Wall Today is one of the best China radio programs. In The Wall Today we can get the best news and analysis in what is happening now in the world. So please, come to join us!

This is World Today. A senior UNESCO marine expert is calling for stronger global cooperation to tackle mountaining challenges in ocean governance and highlights China's growing leadership in advancing international marine research and solutions.

Julien Barbier, head of marine policy at UNESCO's Intergovernmental Ocean Graphic Commission, says deeper international scientific collaboration is urgently needed to better protect marine ecosystems.

I have to say that China is one of the leading countries in terms of providing contribution to the UN decade. We have several international programs led by China, for example, looking at the deep sea ecology of the ocean, which is looking at also the forecasting, using better information to help forecast potential hazards like typhoons, like storm surges.

and making that technology actually available to other countries, which is very encouraging, particularly in the Global South.

Barbier also outlined key priorities for the UN Ocean Conference, which takes place in Nice, France. This year's World Oceans Day was marked on Sunday, with the international conference continuing through this Friday. So to delve into this and more, let's have Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environment Affairs, a Beijing-based NGO. Thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me.

To start us off, how do you assess China's concrete contributions to global ocean governance? What has earned it this growing international recognition? Yeah, first and foremost, I think as the UNESCO expert quoted China, China in recent years, you know, have been continuing to provide its support, to actively participate and make all the contributions necessary

to the global ocean environment governance. And I think one of the key difference here in China is China's trying to walk the walk, not just the setting all this,

or the target, but make real efforts to try to mitigate the climate impact, cut pollution emission, and conduct all the conservation along its coastal regions. And in the meantime, China is also trying to enhance its own capacity of monitoring and forecast so as to adapt to a changing

changing global ocean environment. And this capacity is very much needed in many other developing countries. So that's why the UNESCO experts said that China, by sharing all this capacity with the global south, it has made a major

contribution become a global leader in global in the ocean governance. We know the road to effective governance remains complex and challenging. So what would you say are the biggest challenges currently facing global ocean governance? And how does China's approach compare to that of other major players?

Yeah, the global ocean governance and conservation is really facing a whole series of challenges. First and foremost, I think it's about the climate change impact. Ocean is the biggest regulator and biggest tools to balance our global climate.

But unfortunately, through absorbing nearly 90% of the excess heat since 1970s, the ocean has suffered from not just the rising temperature, ocean temperature in recent years have

the temperature rise have accelerated. And in the meantime, the pH have actually dropped, meaning that the demonstrating a rising of its acidity level. And all this rising temperature have caused the rising sea level, which exposed hundreds of millions.

of coastal residents to risks. And in the meantime, it's also the rising temperature plus the acidity of the ocean have also made impact on the biodiversity, which already suffered so badly through all these years of overfishing and pollution.

And pollution, we used to have conventional pollution, all this wastewater and dump of the garbage into the sea. But now, you know, the new form of pollution such as microplastics also causing all these problems.

Speaking of this year's UN Ocean Conference, what are the main goals of this year's event and what specific actions or initiatives has China undertaken to help achieve those goals? The main goals of this year's UN Ocean Conference, there are several major targets, but the most important is to try to ratify and implement the

the so-called BBNG agreement, that it is the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement. And the target is to secure 60 ratifications by September to enforce, to ensure that this biodiversity agreement on the high seas conservation can come into effect.

And along with that, the so-called 30 by 30 marine protection target, there's also efforts to try to achieve that. Of course, harmful, eliminate harmful fishery subsidies and strengthen size and equity in the governance, also part of the target. And what China has been doing, as I mentioned, China's really trying to walk the walk

And China has imposed a 10-year ban

moratorium on Yangtze River fishing, and also every year conduct seasonal ban along its fishing bank, along its coast. All this help just to restore ocean biodiversity. In the meantime, China is making massive efforts to try to clean up the sea and in the meantime, cut the pollution

transport transferred from all these rivers and into the into the sea and and and China's also spare no efforts to try to restore very very important functions of a very important ecosystem such as

such as coral reef and all the other very important ecosystems. So these are very concrete measures taken by China, which actually set

good models for the world to see that actually all this target, you know, if we can set ambitious target, there's a way to do it. So it's not just about why, it's also about how. Speaking of

Ambitious targets, we know sustainability also has a strong domestic component. Last year, China's ocean economy surpassed 10 trillion yuan for the first time. And in the first three months of this year, it continued that momentum with a 5.7% year-on-year increase. So what are the emerging industries in China driving this growth?

The ocean economy is really growing at a mind-boggling rate. One of the fastest growing sectors is the

is the ocean electricity, marine electricity industry, which increased by 14.7% year on year. And offshore wind is among the fastest. Last year, the power electricity generation of offshore wind grew by nearly 30%.

and other sectors including some of the marine shipping and offshore engineering equipment manufacturing. Marine tourism is also growing very fast. So these are the

leading sectors that contributed to the rapid development. Many thanks, Mr. Ma, for your in-depth perspective. That was Ma Jun, Director of the Institute of Public and Environment Affairs, a Beijing-based NGO. You're listening to Road Today. We'll be back after a short break. ♪

You've been listening to World Today with me, Ge'enna, in Beijing. Tensions in Los Angeles have escalated as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard.

The protesters clashed with National Guard troops in the city during the demonstration against immigration raids sweeping across California. Reports say National Guard soldiers and federal agents fired tear gas and smoked grenades at the crowd.

Some protesters and journalists were hit during the confrontation. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell condemned the acts of vandalism. In recent days, many protests across the city have been peaceful, and we thank the community for expressing their views and their frustration in a responsible manner.

However, when peaceful demonstrations devolve into acts of vandalism or violence, especially violence directed at innocent people, law enforcement officers and others, we must respond firmly. An act of violence, whether toward officers, demonstrators or the public, will be met with swift and lawful action. Our goal is to maintain order without escalating conflict and to protect everybody's right to safety.

So for more on this, Zhao Ying joins us in the studio. Thanks for joining us, Zhao. Hi. What sparked the protests in Los Angeles and how have they evolved over the past few days?

While the protests started on Friday after federal immigration agents, many dressed in camouflage, launched sweeping raids in the city's Garvin district. The enforcement action targeted people suspected of being undocumented immigrants, and it caused panic among workers and residents.

The aggressive presence of federal agents ignited spontaneous protests with demonstrators chanting, throwing eggs, and clashing with law enforcement. Officers responded with pepper spray and crowd control munitions.

And by Saturday, the protests had grown in size and intensity. It spreads beyond downtown to places like Paramount, which is a working class majority Latino city about 15 miles south. And Paramount saw some of the most volatile confrontations

More than 100 people were arrested on Friday and at least 20 more on Saturday. And federal officials later confirmed that eight people in Paramount were charged with obstruction, including two minors who have later been released from custody. And by Sunday morning, the streets of Los Angeles were briefly quiet as the first National Guard troops arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, where many detained protests took place.

Protesters were being held, but the tensions quickly reignited, and by the afternoon, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered outside the detention center and were met by a line of federal law enforcement officials in riot gear. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement fired tear gas,

into the crowd and National Guard troops were also gathered in Paramount near a Home Depot where protesters had clashed with agents on Saturday. So what we are seeing now is that what began as a localized protest against immigration rights has now escalated into a broader confrontation between local communities and federal power.

Reports say President Trump ordered National Guard troops into L.A. without the governor's request. So how unusual is this move? Well, it is highly unusual and it is legally contentious because normally National Guard troops are deployed within a state at the request of the state's governor. That reflects the principle of federalism in the U.S., where states control their own guard units unless the federal government expects

explicitly takes command. But in this case, President Trump kind of bypassed California Governor Gavin Newsom entirely and unilaterally sent guard troops into Los Angeles without a formal request and over vocal objections from state officials.

Historically, federalizing the National Guard without state consent has happened only in moments of profound national crisis. And one famous example is the Alabama in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement.

when Governor George Wallace backed out of a promise to protect civil rights marchers led by Martin Luther King journeying from Selma to Montgomery, and President Lyndon Johnson overrode him. And Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard to ensure the marchers' safety and sent a clear signal that the federal government would not allow state leaders to undermine constitutional rights.

But Donald Trump's use of this power doesn't follow that kind of clear-cut constitutional cause. There's no court order, no declared emergency by state officials, and no broad consensus that local authorities have lost control. And instead, critics say this looks like a political show of force aimed at immigration enforcement. And the move...

deepens the longstanding tensions between California and the Trump administration and may test the legal boundaries of federal intervention. And it could also trigger lawsuits over the scope of presidential authority and the limits of states' rights, much as Wallace and Johnson once did, but under a very different moral and legal context.

But Trump has justified sending the National Guard by claiming Los Angeles is being, in his words, invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals. So how have local leaders and protesters been responding to this narrative?

They have pushed back hard against Trump's characterization of the situation in Los Angeles. And they argue that the president's framing, like describing the protests as an invasion by illegal aliens and criminals, that is not only inflammatory, but also misleading and dangerously dehumanizing.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the deployment of federal troops a political stunt, and she warned that Trump was trying to provoke chaos rather than restore order. She noted that city authorities had already been managing the situation and accused the administration of militarizing a humanitarian crisis.

And California Governor Gavin Newsom echoed those concerns and condemned the unilateral troop deployment as a gross abuse of power designed to intimidate immigrant communities and stoke national division. And he also accused the Trump administration of a serious breach of state sovereignty. And also the protesters on the ground have also rejected Trump's language, like many demonstrators, including community activists.

and immigrant rights groups say that they are just peacefully opposing federal immigration rights that they view as unjust and racially targeted. And their signs and chants have emphasized solidarity, dignity, and resistance to the criminalizing labels imposed by Washington. And immigration advocates have pointed out that the neighborhood

targeted by recent raids are home to many long-established immigrant families and laborers, not the violent mobs described in Trump's statements. And they argue that the real crisis is not lawlessness, but the trauma and fear inflicted by the sudden federal crackdowns.

This confrontation seems to reflect deeper tensions between California and the Trump administration. So how does this situation tie into broader federal-state clashes over immigration and law enforcement?

This is indeed part of a much longer and intensifying standoff between California and the Trump administration. Since Trump's first term, California has positioned itself as a key counterweight to his immigration agenda. The state declared itself a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants.

and it passed laws to limit cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents, and it sued the administration multiple times over issues like border wall funding, DACA protections, and ICE raids.

The Trump administration, in turn, has targeted California for what it views as obstruction. Like in 2018, then Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued the state over three sanctuary laws. Trump himself repeatedly singled out California leaders.

claiming they were enabling crime and undermining national security. And federal immigration authorities have carried out high-profile raids in California cities, often without local coordination. And DHS has publicly threatened to withhold funding from noncompliant jurisdictions.

So what we're seeing now in Los Angeles is like a dramatic escalation of that ongoing power struggle. It raises constitutional questions about the federal government's ability to override state and local authorities in domestic law enforcement matters, especially when the state itself believes that presence is politically motivated or counterproductive. But for many Californians, this isn't just a policy disagreement. It is more like

clash of worldviews because California's political leaders frame the state as a place of inclusion and legal protection for immigrants. But the Trump administration, by contrast, has used aggressive enforcement and militarized rhetoric to assert federal supremacy and portray California as defiant and lawless.

So it is like a combination of years of legal and ideological battles between a progressive state and a federal government that has repeatedly sought to challenge its authority. We'll continue to follow this closely. That was my colleague Zhao Ying coming up. The European Central Bank lowered rates for the eighth time as trade tensions threatened growth. This is Road Today. We'll be back.

The European Central Bank has delivered a widely anticipated 25 basis point rate cut, lowering its deposit facility rate to 2%. This is the ECB's eighth interest rate cut in 13 months, as eurozone inflation was 1.9% in May, below the ECB's 2% target.

The ECB said the European Union needed to reduce its borrowing costs as it reeled from the damage caused by the U.S. trade war. With defense spending increases and a structural labor market change looming, the governing council emphasized future decisions will remain data-dependent, leaving the door open for a potential summer pause in the easing cycle.

So for more on this, my colleague Zhao Yang spoke with Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University.

So first, Yan, why has the ECB cut the interest rates again? And what signal is the central bank sending? Well, this is the eighth time that they cut the interest rate. And now the policy rate is as low as 2%. And you compare that to the UK is 4.5% and the US is 4.25 to 4.5%. So this is relatively low interest rate. The reason is because on the one hand, the inflation rate has dropped down. The eurozone's inflation rate was

reduced to 1.9% in May, was forecasted to continue to go down to about 1.6% next year in 2026. So the relatively low inflation rate, by the way, largely thanks to both the energy costs that has been declining due to the OPEC increasing production, but also due to the euro strength

that has been appreciating more than 10% than the dollar this year. So this helped to reduce the inflation rate at home, and that leaves more room for the ECB to cut. On the other hand, as you just mentioned, even though their first quarter growth has revised upwards to 0.6%, but the whole year forecast is still only 0.9% by the ECB. So it's still relatively sluggish growth rate. And so I think, yeah,

it makes sense for the ECB to cut rates in order to stimulate demand, especially when you have the very uncertain global trading environment that the ECB has been warning about. And the ECB's 25 basis points cut comes at a critical time. So what are the key issues the Eurozone is facing right now, do you think? Well, I think there are two major, I would say, headwinds. One is that

There is the escalation in about just past week between the Russia and Ukraine. The war seemed to be escalating and no sign that they will really come to a quick ceasefire or even stop the war.

So I think that is to a geopolitical uncertainty that is hovering around the European economies. And then the second one, of course, is the US's tariff rate, tariff war, even though now, you know, the two parts, the US and EU are in the so-called 90 day truce.

But by July, if the deal is not made, then the U.S. is going to impose 20 percent universal tariff rate on EU. On top of that, there is still the automotive and automobile parts tariffs and also 50 percent tariff on vehicles.

steel and aluminum. So all of these tariffs are going to affect the European economies negatively because EU does rely on the US market, about 20% of the exports going to the United States. So if in the no deal scenario, this is going to shed about 0.3% of the EU's GDP. So again, given that they only estimate about

0.9% growth, this 0.3% negative impact is going to be significant. So I think those two are really the headwinds. And not to mention, I think the European economies have been stagnating and struggling with some structural issues facing the two major economies, Germany and France. So I think it is a critical time, as you just said, for the ECB and

individual governments to really get their policies in place to stimulate their economy. And how severe is the slowdown in the eurozone economic growth, especially in France and Germany? And what does this rate cut mean for the euro's value and the inflation outlook across Europe? Well, I think this is a great question. I think overall, you know, tariff is going to have negative impact on European economies. And as I mentioned, the ECB

Others have estimated this is going to reduce the eurozone economy's growth, depending on the different estimates. Some believe this is going to reduce the growth rate by 0.3%. But for countries like Germany, this

contraction of the GDP due to the tariff could be as much as 0.4%, just given how much they rely on export to the United States, not only automobiles, but also steel.

So depending on the different economies, you know, the impacts could be relatively large. Ireland, for example, also is a big exporter of pharmaceutical products to the United States. And so if Donald Trump is going to wage new tariff on pharmaceutical products, which he hinted he will, then again, the impacts will be significant.

know will be large so at this point i think it's still um hard to tell but i think unless the ecb and also the individual member governments are you know using their policy to offset that then this will be a relatively significant impact on the economy and i think inflation could also having a higher risk because the global supply chain would have to absorb the cause of the higher u.s tariff

And so that means that it is possible for inflation to rise due to this kind of tariff disruption of the supply chain. And at the end of May, the ECB head Christine Lagarde suggested that the euro could rival the U.S. dollar if the eurozone strengthen its financial and security frameworks. So why did she emphasize this now?

I think Lagarde probably see the opportunity at this point for EU to strengthen the role of the euro. As I just mentioned, the euro value has strengthened against the US dollar by over 10% this year so far. And that's largely because again, Donald Trump's tough war and also other

you know, sort of potential policy moves that made the rest of the world worried about the dollar status and also the dollar value. As you remember, once Donald Trump announced the so-called Liberation Day tariff, the U.S. dollar has been weakening over time. And even if now with the pause,

the dollar is still relatively weaker than before the liberation day tariff hike. So what that means is that there are some concerns about the US dollar, whether or not it's going to continue to be a reserve currency and whether or not the dollar assets will continue to be the safe haven currency. And so I think that gives the

opportunity for EU and for European economies financial assets to be more favorable by international investors, not only because the US is weakened, but also because countries like Germany and France have been ratcheting up their plan to increase more on fiscal spending on military and civilian

So I think all of these just made investors feel that maybe Euro and Euro assets would be a substitute more or less for the US assets. And so that's, I think what prompted her to say, we need to get our acts together so then we'll be able to strengthen the role of Euro in the global financial architecture.

And earlier you mentioned the U.S. 50% steel and aluminum import tariffs actually took effect recently, and these are the highest U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs since the 1930s. So how are the trading partners, especially the EU, responding or preparing to respond to it?

Right. So I think the general director of the European Steel Association basically said that if this 50 percent tariff is being imposed, that essentially means the 3.8 million tons of the EU steel exports to the U.S.

would be under, I quote, a "defettile import ban," end of the quote. So basically, you know, this tariff is so hefty that EU would not be able to export their steel to the United States. And worse still, they worry that because of the high tariffs rate from the United States, that many other countries that are used to export the steel to the United States would have to find a different destination. And that means it's likely that they're going to divert their export of steel

into the EU markets. And so that's what they worried about, that by some estimate, there could be 27 million tons that could be diverted from the US market to the European market instead. And so that's what they worried. A country like Germany, who is the European's largest steel producing country, and they

made up about 6% of the US's total imports of steel last year, countryside, you know, Germany would then be particularly hard hit by these tariffs. And I think, you know, because of steel is such a important input in many of the industrial outputs. And so with all this uncertainty about the steel industry would also affect other industries. So for example, the production of heavy machinery, which relies heavily on the steel,

it has dropped by 6% in April. And that is due to this tariff and the heightened uncertainty. So the impacts could be relatively significant. That was Yan Liang, a professor of economics at Willamette University, speaking with our Zhang Yang. Coming up, China's tourism industry is on track for a major rebound. This is Road Today. Stay tuned.

Hello, I am Dr. Digby James Wren, a political analyst and international relations scholar specializing in China area studies. World Today offers unmatched in-depth perspectives on China's politics, economics, business, technology and society. World Today's team of reporters and contributors provides valuable information from all of the world's major economies. I hope you can join me on World Today for the very best insights and news from China, on China, and help to build a better understanding of China's role in the world today.

You've been listening to Road Today. China's tourism industry is on track for a major rebound. According to a recent projection by Citi, tourism revenue in China could hit 1 trillion yuan or nearly 140 billion U.S. dollars by next year.

The forecast reflects not just a post-pandemic recovery, but also China's broader strategy to open its doors to the world through expanded visa-free access, longer transit stays and new incentives.

So how is China reshaping its tourism experience to appeal to global audiences? And what does this mean for the services sector and the country's economic transformation? Joining us now to unpack this development is Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.

Thanks for joining us, Professor. Hi there. It's a pleasure. Professor, let's begin with the bigger picture. Cities are projecting that China's tourism industry could reach 1 trillion yuan next year. From your perspective, what are the key drivers behind this growth forecast? Well, I think it's very optimistic, but also realistic prediction. This is a conclusion is based on a number of factors.

First, the consumers as tourists, they look for total satisfaction in their entire experience, looking for a destination to travel to.

In that regard, China just unpacked a number of packages to attract the foreign tourists based on the visa-free policy, based on the reduction of taxes through duty-free shops.

And also there has been a heavy promotion from the post-government level and also the civic level on Ni Hao China. So these are really creating a very positive effect. For example, today I received two scholars

from Switzerland who traveled from Wuhan to Beijing. And they said it's really mind blowing taking the fast train only four hours. And we were talking about the experiences 20 years ago when I was traveling to Wuhan, that was really a horrible experience. People get crowded and push each other. So now it's so smooth and so quiet.

So this is really a very decent experience for all tourists. And in addition to that, I think China has also diversified its tourist offering so that more of the international tourists that are looking for ecotourism, the regional cultural tourism,

and also some of the experience travels like tea picking, martial arts schools, calligraphy learning. And, you know, all these are there to attract foreign tourists on different dimensions with different, the

So this is something that really gave a very positive picture for the years to come. Professor, the visa-free policy is now part of a broader package that includes tax incentives like lowering the shopping tax refund threshold from 500 yuan to 200 yuan, that's about 28 US dollars, and improving payment accessibility for foreign carholders.

How do you assess the willingness of international tourists to spend in China today under this new policy mix?

Because the tourist is not really a necessity for life, so therefore the tourists look for their psychological satisfaction or perceptual satisfaction in the first place, particularly for the first time visitors to China, by having the visa-free transit.

for 10 days and also for the reduction of the text, it's really something that's rewarding and it removes some of the psychological stress

the mishap in applying for complicated visa etc and also to look for refund in their purchase tax etc this can also boost the spontaneous travel because i just go and pack without worrying about the uh

visa without worrying about getting stuck at the custom house, et cetera. So I just pack and go. And so that really encourages the last minute travel decisions.

And then another reason is that it does really help to restore the confidence and the convenience within the mindset of those travelers because it signals that China is now open for business. China is getting very friendly to all foreigners. So this perception shift is very crucial, especially after the

COVID and also given the geopolitical complexities and also some of the misinformation that's delivered by some irresponsible media over how difficult China is or how China implements their security control, etc. So this is really...

eye-opening and also a relaxation in terms of psychology and also in terms of real purchase power. Professor, briefly, what products are on their shopping list based on your observation?

actually given that uh made in china is available in every corner of the world they are not really uh looking for uh actually uh inexpensive stuff like shoes or toys etc but uh they look more for uh experience i should say so they um

They used to have sightseeing in Beijing, Xi'an and Guilin. But now they wanted to dive deep into the Chinese society to visit museums, to talk with people, to live with farmhouses.

So these are really very interesting and they also wanted to get deeply engaged in the Chinese culture, participating in some of the festivals with dance and with the many other games.

And they also are there to learn with the Chinese arts and crafts, and particularly with some of the ethnic type of culture. So these are really interesting, and this can also help them to have a longer stay within China, and more stories can be told. So their word of mouth can also attract more people instead of simply those words

the tourist agencies are there promoting. So they are helping the promotion process for China and for Chinese tourists. The desire to experience the real China. Thank you, Professor. That was really enlightening perspective. Thanks, Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.

That's all the time for this edition of Road Today. To listen to this episode again or to catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching Road Today. I'm Ge'Anna in Beijing. Thank you so much for listening. Bye for now.