Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he came to Asia’s preeminent security forum to talk “tanks, not tariffs.” But for other leaders, Trump’s trade war was hard to set aside.

China criticized the United States on Sunday for having a "Cold War mentality" after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described Beijing as a threat the Indo-Pacific region in a speech Saturday.

A private gauge of China’s manufacturing activity tumbled in May, touching the lowest level since September 2022 as tariffs continue to weigh, despite the U.S. trade truce. The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index signaled a contraction for the first time in eight months.

Chinese manufacturing activity in May experienced its fastest decline since September 2022. The PMI index, which assesses the economic health of China's industrial sector, stood at 48.3 points in May,

BEIJING: Chinese factory activity hit a more than two-year low in May, a closely watched survey showed today, as a detente in Beijing’s trade war with Washington was offset by ongoing domestic problems in the world’s number two economy.

China has blasted the U.S. for issuing AI chip export control guidelines, stopping the sale of chip design software to China, and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.

China said Monday that the Trump administration is undermining the temporary May 12 trade agreement between the two nations by issuing AI chip export control guidelines, stopping the sale of chip design software to China and by planning to revoke Chinese student visas.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that China is withholding critical minerals it agreed to release in a trade deal the country signed with U.S. negotiators last month in Geneva. "What China is doing is they are holding back products that are essential for the industrial supply chains of India,

U.S.-China trade talks are up in the air today amid mixed signals from both sides. A call between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is still possible — which would be their first since he took office again.