Winning a Battle, Losing the War - Molly Tea vs. LV, and Trump's Threat to Spain #219
Plus Morocco's newfound glory and advanced materials deep-dives.
Four stories that matter the past week:
The Suzhou Intermediate People's Court ordered Chinese milk tea chain Molly Tea to pay 10.3 million yuan ($1.5 million) to Louis Vuitton for trademark infringement, ruling that the chain’s four-petal flower logo directly copied LV’s registered monogram design.
It might be too early to say how this story will turn out. The ruling drew over 400 million views on Weibo, with massive public support for Molly Tea. The brand’s American branch updated its logo to a question mark that became quite viral on social media. Molly Tea’s founder and the company have said they will appeal the first‑instance judgment, so the case is not final. After all, $1.5 million to be the center of attention doesn’t seem too high a price for a brand with over 2,300 global outlets.
Speaking of disputes, President Trump ordered an immediate trade embargo on Spain during the NATO summit in Ankara. In his words: “[we] cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.” This stems from Spain’s refusal to commit to a 5% GDP defence spending target by 2035, along with its decisions during the Iran war to deny US forces access to joint military bases and close their airspace to American aircraft.
Total two-way goods and services trade between the US and Spain is valued at $74.5 billion annually. Spanish companies have invested €97.2 billion ($111 billion) in the US, making it their largest investment destination worldwide, while US productive capital investment in Spain exceeds €116 billion, employing around 200,000 people. This can escalate quickly, as the EU sets trade policy for its member states and requires common treatment across the bloc, meaning any targeted action against Spain could trigger a broader EU response.
Still on Europe, we covered Volkswagen‘s initial job-cut plans last week. This week, the story sprang further. IG Metall, Germany’s most powerful industrial trade union, is staging nationwide protests across VW manufacturing sites after CEO Oliver Blume proposed expanding global job cuts to 100,000 along with closing three German VW plants and an Audi factory. The cuts would amount to a roughly 15% reduction in VW‘s global workforce of 630,000, eclipsing General Motors‘ 50,000 layoffs during its 2009 bankruptcy as the largest restructuring in automotive history.
VW is not alone, though. The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) issued a statement warning that Europe’s car production capacity now exceeds demand by more than 5 million vehicles a year, equivalent to 35 redundant production sites. VDA president Hildegard Müller went as far as suggesting that handing some German car plants over to foreign ownership could be a way to save jobs. The automotive sector is the backbone of the German economy, with an estimated 3 million people directly and indirectly employed across VW, Mercedes, BMW, and their suppliers.
Still on automotive, the tariffs on Chinese EVs in Western markets have somehow cemented Morocco’s position as Africa's leading manufacturing economy. Chinese manufacturers deployed over $6 billion in Morocco to build integrated EV supply chains. Morocco controls roughly 72% of the world's phosphate rock reserves, the core input for lithium iron phosphate batteries that the global EV industry is moving towards. Its investments in solar and wind generation give manufacturers a way to lower embedded emissions for compliance with the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Labour costs in Moroccan automotive manufacturing average just $106 per vehicle, placing it among the world's lowest-cost production centres. Morocco also has FTA access to both the EU and the US, meaning it is not dependent on any single foreign market, or at all - it can export to Africa just as well. For more on the global automotive and EV landscape, read our Automotive and EV Design 2030 report.
Have a nice weekend. Stay sharp, and keep building.
Tri & Anh
On behalf of the Tocco team
Further Readings · Materials & Manufacturing News · 07.2026
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