Region/Countries: Asia, China Industry: Multiple Sectors Date: October 2018

Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: China also warned the U.S. after new restrictions were imposed on semiconductor imports.

Several news items from October may be of interest to Wisconsin exporters. At the end of October, the yuan slid to its weakest level since the global financial crisis. Its daily reference rate, which bands the currency’s movements within 2 percent in either direction, dropped to 6.9574 per dollar, its lowest level in more than a decade.

Leading Chinese auto parts suppliers have continued to post growth in sales revenue in the past year, with more becoming top-ranking suppliers in the global market, consultant Roland Berger said at a press conference for the top 100 Chinese and global suppliers held by the China Automotive News in Beijing on Oct. 30.

China urged the U.S. to stop interfering with trade, in response to the new U.S. restrictions on exporting technology and products to a major Chinese chip manufacturer. China is the world's largest semiconductor market. Its annual chip imports totaled more than $200 billion in recent years. The new restrictions came as China and the U.S. remained locked in a trade dispute, with additional tariffs imposed from both sides on a wide range of products.