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- 🟠 China’s Xiaomi Poaches BMW Design Chief
🟠 China’s Xiaomi Poaches BMW Design Chief
Reading time: 4 min 53 sec
☕️ Good morning, friends,
We could kick ourselves—yesterday we poured time and love into designing two interactive charts on AI job salaries and China’s births vs. deaths, only to have them not display in the email. 😢
If you’re curious, check out the online version!
Today marks the start of the 10th World Robot Conference 2025 in Beijing. They’re expecting 1.3 million visitors (so, a small gathering by China standards 😉).
We’re kind of in love with this robot—though even after three glances, we’re still not sure if this gorgeous woman is a bot or a human. What do you think?
Have a great weekend!
BENCHMARKS
NUMBER OF THE DAY
+17%
China’s exports to ASEAN rose by this amount in July, while total exports increased 7.2% year-on-year.
🌏 Massive Rerouting: Manufacturers are increasingly shipping to Southeast Asia before U.S. tariffs on rerouted goods take effect; U.S. imports from China plunged 22%.
💣 Tariff Hammer: Trump activated a 40% tariff on transit goods, plans 100% on chips and pharmaceuticals plus 25% on Russian oil. The planned truce ends on August 12.
Watch: The export rerouting via Southeast Asia shows China’s adaptability, but Trump’s anti-transshipment tariffs could close this backdoor and shake global supply chains once again.
In 2025, China’s exports could rise to USD 3.8 trillion after a strong first half of the year. Source: Statista
TOP BIT
🚗 Xiaomi Targets Premium EV Market
The Chinese tech giant is stepping up its electric-vehicle game with fresh design and German expertise. Xiaomi has just appointed Kai Langer—former head designer of BMW’s i series—to signal to rivals that it’s serious about cars.
From the first of August I will join one of the most progressive and uprising big tech players in the world.
The Details
🔧 New German Hire: Kai Langer, who spent over 20 years at BMW…