As Taiwan mulls its response to US tariffs, the KMT wants Lai’s cabinet to spend more (than the NT$88bn pledged) to help the economy.

Hmm… is this the same KMT that forced unprecedented cuts to Lai’s spending plans in the 2025 budget?

focustaiwan.tw/politics/202...

Whether it’s 34%, or 54%, or 104%, after a certain point, final tariff rates often stop mattering. Great insight from Caixin:

www.caixinglobal.com/2025-04-08/i...

Just now: China announces tariffs of 34% across all US goods (effective from midnight, April 10th).

Hold onto your seats…. This rollercoaster is gonna get a whole lot bumpier

(Especially if Trump acts on his threat to punish any retaliatory duties)

The status of global democracy isn't looking too hot these days.

Check out EIU's newest Democracy Index, here: stage.economist.com/interactive/...

As well as our interactive visualization for EIU subscribers, here: viewpoint.eiu.com/analysis/dem...

EIU has just updated our FDI forecasts for Asia in 2025-29. As the graph shows, we’re expecting ASEAN to become the new center of regional gravity.

Contrast this with China, where we estimate that FDI turned negative in 2024, for the first time in recent memory.

(Data on BoP basis)