Who's Bad - Trump in Beijing, Shein in Court & Capital in Vietnam #215
Plus How Europe lost the Tech Race
Four stories that matter this week:
Trump visited Beijing from May 13 to 15. The headlines were big, but the actual deals? Nothing much. The US side said China agreed to buy about 200 Boeing jets, plus agricultural and energy packages. China’s official statements described these as “preliminary” or “intention” rather than finalised contracts. Both sides announced a willingness to set up trade coordination bodies, which is more institutional than transactional. On Hormuz, the White House readout said both leaders agreed the Strait should remain open.
So what did the visit actually produce? Perhaps something arguably quite valuable right now: the signal that there won’t be an imminent major conflict between the two largest economies. We’ve said it before: certainty is the new trade currency, and last week, a small deposit was made. Next week, Putin will visit Beijing. We’ll cover what it means for industries & manufacturing sector.
Speaking of China, Shein is accumulating lawsuits lately. The Texas attorney general sued in February on two simultaneous claims: product safety (independent testing found PFAS in Shein garments at concentrations up to 3,300 times EU safety limits) and data privacy (whether the company’s data handling exposes consumer information to the Chinese government). In London, Shein accused Temu of copying roughly 2,300 product photos. Temu conceded that claim almost immediately, but then counter-claimed another case: Shein locked fast-fashion suppliers into exclusive manufacturing agreements to block competitors from accessing the same factories. That part goes to a separate trial next year. If it holds, Shein’s market dominance gets reframed not as efficiency but as a competition law violation. All of this lands while Shein, perhaps, is still trying to IPO, first blocked in the US in June 2024, and faced resistance in London in 2025.
Speaking of capital, Vietnam just posted its strongest FDI numbers in five years. Total registered foreign investment in the first four months of 2026 reached $18.24 billion, up 32% YoY. Manufacturing and processing absorbed 69% of total registered capital. Singapore led with $7.4 billion (39.9%), followed by South Korea at $4.8 billion (25.7%). China led in the number of new projects (33%).
On the trade side, total export-import turnover for the first four months of 2026 reached $344 billion, up 24.2%. The trade surplus with the US grew 24.4% to $46.9 billion, while the trade deficit with China widened 33.4% to $46.4 billion. The pattern we’ve covered before in packaging and electronics: supply chains move, but dependency cannot change fast. Meanwhile, exciting developments cannot be denied: business registrations are surging too; 77,800 new enterprises in the first four months, up 50.7%.
IMP: We are bringing a private delegation to several Vietnam’s Northern industrial parks starting June 8. It’s a small group, invitation only. If you have a concrete project or agenda for Vietnam, send us your case at [email protected], and we'll see if it's a fit for this cohort.
And this week’s premium read from Tocco Editorial team: “How Europe lost the Tech Race”. We looked at one number first: Venture capital deployed in Europe in 2025 reached €66.2 billion, only 22% of the US figure despite comparable economic size. Europe produces more tech startups than America, but has 80% fewer scaleups and 85% fewer unicorns. The energy crisis compounded the structural problem for the European market: EU industrial electricity prices in 2024 were €0.199 per kWh, versus €0.082 in China and €0.075 in the US. Read the full analysis here.
Enjoy your weekend. Stay sharp, and keep building.
Anh
On behalf of the Tocco team
Further Readings · Material & Manufacturing News · 05.2026
(Colombia 🇨🇴) OffMatter: A Neotropical Material Language. A conversation with OffMatter founder David Cabra Jaramillo on algae, cassava starch, Colombian botanical pigments, and what it means to design the material before the object.
(China 🇨🇳) Color, Material, Finish: 10 Chinese EV Brands Taking CMF Seriously - A look at ten companies and the specific material, colour, and finish strategies they’re applying across their current ranges.
(UK 🇬🇧) Starting July 1, Britain plans to slash tariff-free steel import quotas by 60%, with some categories cut up to 90%, and raise out-of-quota tariffs from 25% to 50%. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) warned this could push manufacturers to rely on specialist steel grades not produced domestically, with some facing millions in additional costs or production halts. The goal is to rebuild domestic share from 30% to 50%, but the BCC argues the unintended consequences could push firms toward cheaper overseas suppliers.
(China 🇨🇳 / Global 🌏) China has banned exports of sulphuric acid, the world’s most used industrial chemical, after its imported sulphur supply was disrupted by Hormuz. Roughly half of the global sulphur supply came from the Middle East in 2025. Sulphuric acid is used in batteries, textiles, fertilisers, petroleum refining, drinking water treatment, and chip manufacturing. We will cover more on this story next week.