China Launches Investigation into Google Amid Escalating Trade Tensions with U.S.

In a heated escalation of the US-China trade war, China has announced it will impose retaliatory tariffs on American imports following President Donald Trump's decision to implement a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the tariffs will apply to crude oil, agricultural machinery, and large vehicles, with coal and liquefied natural gas facing a higher 15% tariff. These measures are set to take effect from the following Monday. The Chinese government criticized Trump's tariffs as a "unilateral tariff hike" that breaches World Trade Organization rules and disrupts bilateral economic relations. Trump’s administration argues that these tariffs aim to combat the production of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid linked to over 70,000 overdose deaths annually in the US. As trade tensions escalate, Trump plans to have a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming days, marking a significant diplomatic attempt to avert further conflict in trade relations. The ongoing trade disputes have raised concerns about potential negative impacts on the economies of both nations and beyond.

Researchers from Shenzhen MSU-BIT University have developed an innovative computational algorithm that enhances the efficiency of peridynamics, a theory for modeling fractures and material damage, by up to 800 times. This breakthrough significantly accelerates large-scale material simulations, which are crucial in aerospace, civil engineering, and defense, according to Associate Professor Yang Yang and her research team. The traditional peridynamics simulations are known to be slow and resource-intensive. However, utilizing Nvidia's CUDA technology, the new PD-General framework optimizes both algorithm design and memory management, achieving performance improvements over standard methods. In tests, the enhanced framework processed millions of iterations efficiently, completing complex simulations on consumer-grade GPUs rather than requiring expensive high-performance computing clusters. This development not only streamlines material analysis across multiple industries but also reduces reliance on restricted foreign technology amid current global trade restrictions. The findings were published in the Chinese Journal of Computational Mechanics on January 8, 2025.

China has retaliated against President Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods by imposing new tariffs on selected U.S. imports, while also launching an antitrust investigation into Google. The measures came into effect Tuesday, with China announcing a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil and agricultural machinery, among others. According to China's State Council Tariff Commission, the U.S. tariffs are a violation of World Trade Organization rules and hinder economic cooperation between the two nations. Analysts noted that this response is part of a broader pattern of tit-for-tat trade actions, reminiscent of the trade war that began in 2018. John Gong, a professor in Beijing, described China's approach as "measured," reflecting a desire to avoid escalation. Experts warn that ongoing tensions could have global repercussions, including reduced GDP growth and inflation in the U.S. Furthermore, the Chinese government has included U.S. companies PVH Group and Illumina on an unreliable entities list, further increasing tensions in economic relations.