US expects China to delay rare earth export controls

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In as we speak’s publication:

• China more likely to delay uncommon earths export controls

• OpenAI’s unconventional dealmaking

• The highest government who blew the whistle twice

• A traveller’s information to Hong Kong

We begin with the US-China talks in Malaysia over the weekend, which have raised hopes of a commerce truce extension when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet later this week. Right here’s what to know.

Uncommon earths aid? Following two days of negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, US officers anticipate China to delay introducing export controls on uncommon earths. Beijing’s announcement of the sweeping controls this month triggered a pointy escalation in commerce tensions and threatened to torpedo plans for Trump and Xi’s first summit since 2019. A senior US official informed the FT that Beijing’s probably delay was prompted by Washington’s risk of further tariffs in addition to strain from different international locations that depend on the minerals.

Wanting forward: Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who led the US delegation, mentioned the edges had agreed on a “very positive” framework for Trump and Xi to approve once they meet on the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in South Korea on Thursday. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday as a part of a week-long journey to Asia. The US president flies to Japan as we speak to fulfill Sanae Takaichi, the brand new prime minister, earlier than heading to South Korea for his summit with the Chinese language chief.

Read more about the first leg of Trump’s tour, which included a series of deals with south-east Asian countries.

Right here’s what else we’re retaining tabs on as we speak:

• Financial knowledge: Taiwan publishes month-to-month jobs figures.

• ‘Davos within the Desert’: Saudi Arabia’s state-backed Future Funding Initiative occasion begins in Riyadh. Audio system embrace JPMorgan Chase chief government Jamie Dimon, his HSBC counterpart Georges Elhedery and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.

5 extra high tales

1. OpenAI chief Sam Altman and an interior circle of executives masterminded offers price as a lot as $1.5tn with little enter from exterior advisers, regardless of uncommon constructions that tie the start-up’s fortunes to among the world’s largest corporations. Read more about OpenAI’s unconventional dealmaking process.

2. The US dangers falling additional behind China within the international electrical automobile race after the Trump administration’s championing of the petrol engine led to a steep drop in EV investments, business executives have warned. EV-related investments tumbled by virtually a 3rd to $8.1bn within the three months to September, in line with new knowledge.

3. French police have made the primary arrests linked to the heist on the Louvre final week, when 4 burglars broke into the Paris museum and made off with eight items of royal jewelry. One of many suspects was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport whereas trying to go away France. Read the full story.

4. A CVC government who’s certainly one of Spain’s strongest but discreet dealmakers has been dragged into the highlight by a tax probe right into a multibillion-euro healthcare deal. Javier de Jaime Guijarro is being investigated by a Spanish court docket over allegations of tax fraud that threaten to rock Spain’s private equity sector.

5. Novartis has agreed to purchase Avidity Biosciences, a biotech targeted on uncommon ailments, for $12bn, within the greatest acquisition by the drugmaker in additional than a decade. Vas Narasimhan, the longtime chief government of Novartis, mentioned two of the three potential drugs in Avidity’s pipeline have the potential to succeed in annual peak gross sales of many billions of {dollars}.

FT Journal

Meet the highest government who blew the whistle — twice. Mark MacGann leaked the Uber Information, exposing the tech large’s lobbying, affect peddling and rule breaking throughout a number of continents. The choice price him professionally and positioned him below authorized risk. Now, after one other private reckoning, he reveals the inside truth about telecoms conglomerate Veon.

We’re additionally studying . . .

• Japan: A list of workplace microaggressions factors to a downward shift in tolerance ranges, writes Leo Lewis.

• Exclamation marks in emails: Pilita Clark on what the analysis exhibits about individuals who litter work emails with exclamation points.

• Trump’s ballroom blitz: The US president’s huge refurbishment of the White Home ignores questions of style and scale, writes FT structure critic Edwin Heathcote.

• Fan energy: Amplified by social media, fanbases now really feel nearer than ever to their idols — for good and for ill, writes FT pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney.

Chart of the day

Argentines voted on Sunday in midterm elections that will decide the way forward for President Javier Milei’s free market reforms, as a disaster of confidence in his authorities roils Argentine belongings.

Take a break from the information . . . 

Don’t miss HTSI’s traveller’s guide to Hong Kong. David Coggins explored the ever-evolving metropolis’s many points of interest, from dim sum and horseracing to its famed tailors. “The tradition of town was at all times to decorate up, and that continues to be the norm,” says Mark Cho, co-founder of The Armoury.