Tariff reactions and Two Sessions

Stable GDP, bubble tea billions, and Uyghurs deported from Thailand

This is The China Week, a succinct roundup of what happened in the world’s other superpower in the last week.

I also worked on these things this week:

• Xi Jinping’s Purges Have Escalated. Here’s Why They Are Unlikely to Stop by Wu Guoguang on ChinaFile.

• The second episode of my new podcast series, Rhyming Chaos: How to loot a country: Lessons for the U.S. from South Africa.

The China Week is free for the next few weeks—subscribe here if this was forwarded to you.

—Jeremy Goldkorn

The grand political theater of the Two Sessions. Image source: Xinhua.

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Beijing reacts to Trump’s tariffs

Donald Trump’s new tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada kicked in today. Goods from China were already subject to 10% duties after a February executive order from Trump; this has been increased to 20%. China’s response includes:

• Additional 10% to 15% tariffs on eight categories of U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans and corn.

• Adding 10 defense companies (which have no business in China) to C…