China in February 2026: the most important developments in economy
In February 2026, China's economy was shaped by technology disputes and shifting trade relations. The most widely reported story was an Indian university, Galgotias, removed from an AI summit in Delhi after presenting a Chinese-made robotic dog as its own creation; the university apologized, saying its representative was ill-informed. In AI more broadly, Anthropic accused DeepSeek and MiniMax of using data from its Claude system to train their models, and DeepSeek was reported to have used Nvidia's most advanced chips despite US export bans. Nvidia said it had secured a license to sell its H200 chip to China, and DeepSeek and Huawei prepared new AI launches at month end.
Relations with Japan and the United States were tense. China put between 20 and 40 Japanese companies and entities, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, on an export control list for items with civilian and military uses, saying the step was meant to curb Japan's remilitarization. The US proposed a critical minerals trade alliance with the EU and Japan and launched a $12 billion stockpile called Project Vault; China criticized the proposal. After the US Supreme Court found Trump-era tariffs unlawful, China called on Washington to cancel them, and President Donald Trump moved to raise global tariffs to 15%. The Pentagon added Alibaba and Baidu to a blacklist over alleged military ties.
In Europe, the European Commission accused TikTok of breaching the Digital Services Act through addictive design, opened a formal investigation into Shein, and began a foreign subsidies probe into Goldwind. China announced duties on some EU dairy products. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited China, called for fair competition while opposing full economic decoupling, and China agreed to buy 120 Airbus aircraft. China also became Germany's top trading partner, ahead of the United States.
Elsewhere, BYD aimed to sell at least 50,000 vehicles in Germany in 2026. China said it would end tariffs for 53 African countries from May, suspended some agricultural tariffs on Canada from March 1, and tested its Long March-10 rocket and Mengzhou spacecraft ahead of a planned crewed moon landing by 2030.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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