China‘s top policymakers pledged to support firms and workers most affected by the impact of triple-digit U.S. tariffs, the ruling Communist Party’s politburo said on Friday (April 25, 2025), according to state media.

The politburo, a top policy decision-making body, reiterated plans to accelerate debt issuance, ease monetary policy and vowed to support employers to safeguard jobs, in an effort to maintain stability at home as China hunkers down for a prolonged trade war with the United States.

“The fundamentals of China’s sustained economic recovery needs to be further consolidated, and the impact of external shocks is rising,” said a state media Xinhua report on the politburo meeting on Friday (April 25, 2025).

“We will strive to stabilise employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, and respond to the uncertainty of rapid changes in the external environment with the certainty of high-quality development.”

The meeting urged preparing for “worst-case scenarios” with sufficient planning, and taking concrete steps to do a good job in economic work, Xinhua reported.

Specifically, the country will increase the proportion of unemployment insurance funds that can be returned to companies that are greatly affected by tariffs, in a bid to stabilise jobs, according to the readout.

“Multiple measures should be taken to help enterprises in difficulty. [We should] strengthen financing support and accelerate the integration of domestic sales and foreign trade,” Xinhua reported.

The country will also cut interest rates and banks reserve requirement ratio “in a timely manner” and develop consumption in the services sector, according to the readout.

China’s economy grew 5.4% in the first quarter, beating expectations, but markets fear a sharp downturn in the year ahead as U.S. tariffs pose biggest risks to the world’s second-largest economy in decades.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck a more conciliatory tone this week, saying the tariffs were unsustainable and signaling openness to de-escalating the trade war. But Beijing called on Washington to remove the tariffs to create space for talks.

SYDNEY: Australia‘s prime minister condemned heckling and booing Friday at two solemn Anzac Day commemorations as “low cowardice”, warning that those responsible would “face the full force of the law”.
Anzac Day originally marked the ill-fated World War I landing of Australia and New Zealand Army Corps troops at Gallipoli, in what is now Turkey, in 1915.
Facing dug-in German-backed Ottoman forces, more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen were killed in the Allied expedition.This year commemorates the 110th anniversary of the landing.
Anzac Day now also honours Australians and New Zealanders who have served in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
Large crowds gathered across cities and towns in both countries just before dawn to pay their respects.
“We, who are gathered here, think of those who went out to the battlefields of all wars but did not return,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended a service in Canberra.
“We feel them still near us in spirit. We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice.”
But services in Perth and Melbourne were briefly disrupted by booing and heckling during the Welcome to Country ceremony — a traditional blessing from a local Indigenous elder before an event.
‘Completely disrespectful’
Albanese later described the interruptions as “an act of low cowardice on a day where we honour courage and sacrifice”.
“There is no place in Australia for what occurred. The disruption of Anzac Day is beyond contempt, and the people responsible must face the full force of the law,” he told reporters in Canberra.
The Melbourne interruption was “led by someone who is a known neo-Nazi”, veterans’ affairs minister Matt Keogh said.
“Frankly, when we come together to commemorate on Anzac Day, we’re commemorating some of those soldiers who fell in a war that was fought against that sort of hateful ideology,” he told the national broadcaster ABC.
“And so it was completely disrespectful, and is not something that’s welcome at Anzac Day commemorations, ever.”
When pressed how he knew the identity of the person involved, Keogh said he had “seen the public reporting of at least one of the names of one of the people that was involved”.
Police directed one man — who they have not identified — to leave the event, who they also interviewed “for offensive behaviour”, a Victoria Police spokesperson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was due to attend an Anzac service in Gallipoli.
In a message, King Charles III, the head of state of both Australia and New Zealand, thanked the countries’ World War II veterans for their “selfless service in those most difficult and dangerous times”.
The annual commemoration comes in the run-up to a May 3 election in Australia, where the most pressing issues for both main parties are the cost of living, managing the energy transition and balancing relations with the United States.
The left-leaning government is leading the opposition in opinion polls.

The White House urged an end to “malicious” European regulations targeting US tech giants [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Large EU fines on Meta and Apple for breaking competition rules amount to “economic extortion,” the White House said, urging an end to “malicious” European regulations targeting US tech giants.

The European Commission on Wednesday fined Apple 500 million euros ($570 million) after concluding the company prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store to access cheaper deals.

Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta was also fined 200 million euros over its “pay or consent” system after it violated rules on the use of personal data.

The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect last year, forcing the world’s biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU.

“This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States,” Brian Hughes, spokesman of the White House National Security Council, told AFP in a statement Thursday.

“The EU’s malicious targeting of American companies and consumers must stop,” he said, reiterating the Trump administration’s position that such regulations “enable censorship” and are a “direct threat to free civil society.”

While not outlining any potential US response, Hughes said the regulations “will be recognized as barriers to trade,” suggesting they may be brought up in upcoming EU-US negotiations.

President Donald Trump launched his steep levies on trading partners, including the European Union, citing the removal of “unfair” non-tariff barriers as one of his goals.

“End the EU’s regulatory death spiral!” Hughes said.