Japan’s SoftBank woos Trump with planned $100bn investment in US

Good morning. In immediately’s e-newsletter:

• SoftBank pledges $100bn funding in US

• Court docket names alleged Chinese language spy linked to Prince Andrew

• How China is organising store in Mexico

Japan’s SoftBank yesterday unveiled plans to take a position $100bn within the US, within the newest signal of how firms are speeding to ingratiate themselves with Donald Trump.

Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s billionaire chief government, stood subsequent to the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago because the pair formally introduced the plans.

“I would like to have a good time the nice victory of President Trump,” Son mentioned, including that he was “excited” by the deliberate funding and likewise hoped that Trump would “deliver the world into peace once more”.

The maverick investor, who made an analogous transfer after Trump received the presidential election in 2016, will focus the brand new funding on creating AI-linked jobs and infrastructure initiatives, an individual conversant in the matter mentioned. It’s unclear how Son, who is thought for his lofty pronouncements, will have the ability to fund his $100bn funding pledge.

Son’s announcement comes as US know-how teams, led by Amazon and Meta, have moved to make huge donations to the fund for Trump’s inauguration in January. Read more on SoftBank and corporate America’s efforts to curry favour with the incoming president. 

• Extra on Japanese enterprise: Hitachi’s new chief executive Toshiaki Tokunaga, introduced yesterday, is going through excessive expectations after taking up a conglomerate that has undergone a digital makeover.

Right here’s what else we’re preserving tabs on immediately:

• Financial knowledge: Hong Kong studies November labour market figures.

• Cross-strait relations: Shanghai vice mayor Hua Yuan attends an intercity discussion board in Taipei in a uncommon go to that comes after China performed large-scale military exercises round Taiwan.

5 extra high tales

1. North Korean troops have fought for the primary time alongside Russian forces towards Ukrainian troopers in Russia’s Kursk area, the US mentioned yesterday. The North Korean troopers “have suffered casualties, each killed and wounded​,” a Pentagon spokesman advised reporters. Read the full story.

2. The alleged Chinese language spy linked to Prince Andrew has been publicly named as Tengbo Yang after a decide lifted an anonymity order, elevating contemporary questions on his connections to the British establishment. MI5 has alleged that Yang — who suggested UK firms spanning GSK and McLaren — gathered intelligence on behalf of the Chinese language state. The 50-year-old Chinese language nationwide referred to as the allegations “totally unfaithful”.

3. Germany is heading for early elections after Chancellor Olaf Scholz misplaced a vote of confidence, a broadly anticipated consequence that ends his fractious three-party coalition authorities. “We had been all fed up with one another,” mentioned Robert Habeck, the financial system minister in Scholz’s authorities. Here’s what to know about the upcoming vote in February.

4. Brussels fears divisions between member states will hamper its capability to fight a possible flood of low-cost items from China — dumped by Beijing in response to the prospect of upper US tariffs — with sanctions of their very own. Frightened that conventional commerce measures could be too sluggish to deploy, policymakers are pushing for more EU powers to respond.

• Chinese language financial system: Retail gross sales in China missed expectations in November, including to strain on Beijing policymakers to spice up the financial system.

5. Australia’s markets regulator has sued HSBC for what it referred to as “widespread and systemic failures” in defending clients towards scammers. The Australian Securities and Investments Fee mentioned yesterday that scammers had price HSBC Australia clients A$23mn ($14.6mn) between 2020 and 2024, with some customers losing more than A$90,000.

Visible story

Over the previous few years Chinese language firms have established themselves in Mexico’s provide chains, creating stronger commerce hyperlinks and growing manufacturing. Whereas president-elect Donald Trump has threatened Mexico’s authorities with tariffs, China is setting up shop in America’s backyard, inflicting concern amongst commerce officers within the US and Canada.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Financial unfairness in South Korea: The following authorities has to interrupt out of the shackles of chilly struggle politics and implement extra egalitarian policies, writes Ha-Joon Chang.

• Pakistan army’s ‘Imran Khan downside’: Even behind bars, the vastly fashionable former prime minister is seen because the biggest threat to the armed forces in half a century.

• Guess towards ‘American exceptionalism’: All the keenness about US shares solely confirms that “the mom of all bubbles” is at a very advanced stage, writes Ruchir Sharma.

Chart of the day

A psychological well being pandemic is engulfing the world’s workplaces, with monetary providers among the many hardest-hit sectors. With melancholy and anxiousness costing the worldwide financial system $1tn yearly, Clive Cookson and Amy Borrett discover how employers and governments are tackling the disaster on this first instalment of the Global Crisis in Mental Health series.

Take a break from the information

Columnist Stephen Bush makes a compelling case for school uniforms, and why the Christmas season ought to remind us of their worth.