US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
China opposes Czech president’s visit to Dalai Lama
China says it “resolutely opposed” Czech President’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. China urges Czech side to “abide by its one-China political commitment” The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile.
HONG KONG, July 28 (Reuters) – China said it “resolutely opposed” Czech President Petr Pavel’s meeting in India with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and urged the Czech side to “abide by its one-China political commitment” and maintain healthy and stable relations.
China’s embassy in the Czech Republic posted the notice late on Sunday and said China firmly opposes any form of contact between officials of any country and the Dalai “clique”.
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Pavel met with the Dalai Lama on July 27, it said.
“China urges the Czech side to abide by its one-China political commitment, take immediate and effective measures to eliminate the bad influence,” the statement said.
It added that the Czech side should stop sending “any wrong signals to ‘Tibetan independence’ separatist forces.”
The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China.
India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile.
Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom;
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Musk says Tesla, Samsung Electronics sign $16.5 billion chip supply deal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics. The move is expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business. Samsung shares rose more than 4% after the news. Samsung has been losing market share to TSMC in contract manufacturing, underscoring technological challenges the firm faces in mastering advanced chip manufacturing to attract clients like Apple and Nvidia. The deal could revive the project that has faced delays amid Samsung’s struggles to retain and win major customers, analysts say. The South Korean firm is seeking U.s. partnerships in chips and shipbuilding amid last-ditch efforts to reach a trade deal to eliminate or reduce potential 25% tariffs.
Item 1 of 2 A Tesla Cybercab is displayed at the Los Angeles Auto Show, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 21, 2024. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo
Summary
Companies Samsung shares jump more than 4% after news of deal
Musk says Samsung’s new Texas fab will make Tesla’s AI6 chip
Samsung struggles with AI chip competition, losing market share to TSMC
SEOUL, July 28 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) , opens new tab , a move expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business.
Samsung shares rose more than 4% after the news.
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“Samsung’s giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip. The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate,” Musk said in a post on X on Monday.
If Musk was referring to Samsung’s upcoming Taylor, Texas, plant, the deal could revive the project that has faced delays amid Samsung’s struggles to retain and win major customers.
“Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house,” Musk said on his social media platform.
Samsung had earlier announced the $16.5 billion chip supply deal without naming the client, saying the customer had requested confidentiality about the details of the deal, which will run through the end of 2033.
Three sources briefed about the matter told Reuters that Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab was the customer for the deal.
Samsung, the world’s top memory chip maker, also makes logic chips designed by customers through its foundry business.
Pak Yuak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the latest deal would help reduce losses at Samsung’s foundry business, which he estimated exceeded 5 trillion won ($3.63 billion) in the first half of the year.
The Samsung-Tesla deal may also be significant for South Korea, which is seeking U.S. partnerships in chips and shipbuilding amid last-ditch efforts to reach a trade deal to eliminate or reduce potential 25% U.S. tariffs
Samsung is grappling to boost production yields of its latest 2-nanometer technology, but the order is unlikely to involve the cutting-edge tech, said Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities.
Samsung has been losing market share to TSMC in contract manufacturing, underscoring technological challenges the firm faces in mastering advanced chip manufacturing to attract clients like Apple and Nvidia, analysts said.
($1 = 1,378.7000 won)
Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin, Wen-Yee Lee, Jack Kim, Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies and Himani Sarkar
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Thai and Cambodian leaders head to Malaysia for peace talks
Leaders of Thailand and Cambodia were set to hold talks in Malaysia on Monday to reach a ceasefire in their deadly border dispute. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said State Department officials were in Malaysia to assist peace efforts. President Donald Trump had earlier said that he thought both leaders wanted to settle the conflict. Thailand’s government said it was attending talks arranged by Malaysia in its role as chair of the regional ASEAN bloc, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the talks were co-organised by the United States with the participation of China. The death toll has risen above 30, including more than 20 civilians, while authorities report that more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas.
Thailand’s government said it was attending talks arranged by Malaysia in its role as chair of the regional ASEAN bloc, while Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said the talks were co-organised by the United States with the participation of China.
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said State Department officials were in Malaysia to assist peace efforts, after President Donald Trump had earlier said that he thought both leaders wanted to settle the conflict.
“We want this conflict to end as soon as possible,” Rubio said in statement released late on Sunday in the U.S. and early Monday in Asia.
“State Department officials are on the ground in Malaysia to assist these peace efforts.”
Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia have intensified since the killing in late May of a Cambodian soldier during a brief border skirmish. Border troops on both sides were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand’s fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse.
Item 1 of 3 Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai and Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa walks after the press conference at the base of Wing 6 of the Royal Thai Air Force ahead of their departure to Malaysia for ceasefire talks on the deadly border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia that extended to a fifth day, in Bangkok, Thailand, July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa [1/3] Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai and Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Maris Sangiampongsa walks after the press conference at the base of Wing 6 of the Royal Thai Air Force ahead of their departure to Malaysia for ceasefire talks on the deadly border conflict between… Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab Read more
Hostilities broke out last Thursday and have escalated into the worst fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in more than a decade.
The death toll has risen above 30, including more than 20 civilians, while authorities report that more than 200,000 people have been evacuated from border areas.
ANWAR TO CHAIR TALKS
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had proposed ceasefire talks soon after the border dispute erupted into conflict on Thursday, and China and the United States also offered to assist in negotiations.
Thailand had said it supported calls for a ceasefire in principle but wanted to negotiate bilaterally , while Cambodia had called for international involvement.
Anwar said he expected to chair the negotiations after being asked by representatives of the two governments to try to find a peace settlement, state media agency Bernama reported.
“So, I’m discussing the parameters, the conditions, but what is important is (an) immediate ceasefire,” he said late on Sunday.
Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-um, and Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok, Chantha Lach in Phnom Penh; Danial Azhar in Kuala Lumpur and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Writing by John Mair; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan
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Musk says Tesla, Samsung Electronics sign $16.5 billion chip supply deal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics. The move is expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business. Samsung shares rose more than 4% after the news. Samsung has been losing market share to TSMC in contract manufacturing, underscoring technological challenges the firm faces in mastering advanced chip manufacturing to attract clients like Apple and Nvidia. The deal could revive the project that has faced delays amid Samsung’s struggles to retain and win major customers, analysts say. The South Korean firm is seeking U.s. partnerships in chips and shipbuilding amid last-ditch efforts to reach a trade deal to eliminate or reduce potential 25% tariffs.
Item 1 of 2 A Tesla Cybercab is displayed at the Los Angeles Auto Show, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., November 21, 2024. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo
Summary
Companies Samsung shares jump more than 4% after news of deal
Musk says Samsung’s new Texas fab will make Tesla’s AI6 chip
Samsung struggles with AI chip competition, losing market share to TSMC
SEOUL, July 28 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab CEO Elon Musk said the U.S. automaker had signed a $16.5 billion deal to source chips from Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) , opens new tab , a move expected to bolster the South Korean tech giant’s loss-making contract manufacturing business.
Samsung shares rose more than 4% after the news.
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“Samsung’s giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla’s next-generation AI6 chip. The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate,” Musk said in a post on X on Monday.
If Musk was referring to Samsung’s upcoming Taylor, Texas, plant, the deal could revive the project that has faced delays amid Samsung’s struggles to retain and win major customers.
“Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house,” Musk said on his social media platform.
Samsung had earlier announced the $16.5 billion chip supply deal without naming the client, saying the customer had requested confidentiality about the details of the deal, which will run through the end of 2033.
Three sources briefed about the matter told Reuters that Tesla (TSLA.O) , opens new tab was the customer for the deal.
Samsung, the world’s top memory chip maker, also makes logic chips designed by customers through its foundry business.
Pak Yuak, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said the latest deal would help reduce losses at Samsung’s foundry business, which he estimated exceeded 5 trillion won ($3.63 billion) in the first half of the year.
The Samsung-Tesla deal may also be significant for South Korea, which is seeking U.S. partnerships in chips and shipbuilding amid last-ditch efforts to reach a trade deal to eliminate or reduce potential 25% U.S. tariffs
Samsung is grappling to boost production yields of its latest 2-nanometer technology, but the order is unlikely to involve the cutting-edge tech, said Lee Min-hee, an analyst at BNK Investment & Securities.
Samsung has been losing market share to TSMC in contract manufacturing, underscoring technological challenges the firm faces in mastering advanced chip manufacturing to attract clients like Apple and Nvidia, analysts said.
($1 = 1,378.7000 won)
Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin, Wen-Yee Lee, Jack Kim, Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Ed Davies and Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab
US, China to launch new talks on tariff truce extension, easing path for Trump-Xi meeting
US President Donald Trump’s administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks. Previous US-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing US and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels. Trade analysts say that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely. A US Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days. In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in October or early November. A late flare-up of controls would likely derail a landmark trip to China, and new tariffs and export controls would be likely to derail the talks, analysts say. The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Mr Trump’s biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on July 27 for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU goods exports.
STOCKHOLM – Top US and Chinese economic officials will resume talks in Stockholm on July 28 to try to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of a trade war between the world’s top two economies, aiming to extend a truce by three months and keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay.
China is facing an Aug 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump’s administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals .
Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from US duties snapping back to triple-digit levels that would amount to a bilateral trade embargo.
The Stockholm talks come hot on the heels of Mr Trump’s biggest trade deal yet with the European Union on July 27 for a 15 per cent tariff on most EU goods exports to the US, including autos. The bloc will also buy US$750 billion (S$960 billion) worth of American energy and make US$600 billion worth of US investments in coming years.
No similar breakthrough is expected in the US-China talks but trade analysts said that another 90-day extension of a tariff and export control truce struck in mid-May was likely.
An extension of that length would prevent further escalation and facilitate planning for a potential meeting between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late October or early November.
A US Treasury spokesperson declined comment on a South China Morning Post report quoting unnamed sources as saying the two sides would refrain from introducing new tariffs or other steps that could escalate the trade war for another 90 days.
Mr Trump’s administration is poised to impose new sectoral tariffs that will impact China within weeks, including on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ship-to-shore cranes and other products.
“We’re very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we’ll see how that goes,” Mr Trump told reporters on July 27 before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck their tariff deal.
Deeper issues
Previous US-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing US and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia’s H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States.
So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include US complaints that China’s state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing’s complaints that US national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth.
“Geneva and London were really just about trying to get the relationship back on track so that they could, at some point, actually negotiate about the issues which animate the disagreement between the countries in the first place,” said Mr Scott Kennedy, a China economics expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“I’d be surprised if there is an early harvest on some of these things but an extension of the ceasefire for another 90 days seems to be the most likely outcome,” Mr Kennedy said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has already flagged a deadline extension and has said he wants China to rebalance its economy away from exports to more domestic consumption – a decades-long goal for US policymakers.
Analysts say the US-China negotiations are far more complex than those with other Asian countries and will require more time.
China’s grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on US industries.
Trump-Xi meeting?
In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Xi in late October.
Mr Trump has said he will decide soon on a landmark trip to China, and a new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail planning.
Mr Sun Chenghao, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Centre for International Security and Strategy in Beijing, said that a Trump-Xi summit would be an opportunity for the US to lower the 20 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods related to fentanyl .
In exchange, he said the Chinese side could make good on its 2020 pledge to increase purchases of US farm products and other goods.
“The future prospect of the heads of state summit is very beneficial to the negotiations because everyone wants to reach an agreement or pave the way in advance,” Mr Sun said.
Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered US tariffs totalling 55 per cent on most goods and further easing of US high-tech export controls, analysts said.
Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the US trade deficit with China, which reached US$295.5 billion in 2024. REUTERS