SIMIC

Star electric car maker Tesla has announced plans to cancel plans to buy land to expand its Shanghai plant and make it a global export hub, Reuters reports.

With 25 per cent tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles imposed on top of existing levies under former US President Donald Trump still in place, Tesla now intends to limit the proportion of China output in its global production, sources say.

Tesla had earlier considered expanding exports of its China-made entry-level Model 3 to more markets, including the United States, sources told Reuters, a plan that had not previously been reported.

Likewise, Amazon has blocked several prominent mainland Chinese merchants for alleged "suspicious behaviour", in a move that industry insiders say is part of a targeted crackdown on questionable business practices sellers on the platform, including those based in China, reports Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

For over a week now, most Amazon listings from Aukey, a major Shenzhen-based electronics vendor, have been listed as "currently unavailable".

Similarly, most products on Mpow, the main Amazon electronics store run by ByteDance and Xiaomi-backed consumer product firm Patozon, have not been available for purchase since late April.

In the EU, companies are having problems with hiring people from overseas for their China operations due to the country's strict Covid border controls, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China officials told Caixin.

Although European companies in China can hire locals, some of their new projects in high-end manufacturing and biopharmaceuticals still require skilled overseas professionals who are familiar with new technologies, said Jorg Wuttke, the chamber's president.

A July survey conducted by the European chamber's Shanghai chapter showed that 56 per cent of 143 responding companies still had foreign staff unable to return to China. Only about 18 per cent of the respondents said all their foreign staff had returned.