BMW's 'vividly connected' global supply chains deeply embedded in China: CEO

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BMW's 'vividly connected' global supply chains deeply embedded in China: CEO

2025-03-24 16:42 Last Updated At：17:57

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management and CEO of BMW AG, on Sunday highlighted the company's deep integration with Chinese supply chains and reaffirmed its commitment to continue investing in the Chinese market.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 2025 China Development Forum, held in Beijing from March 23 to 24, Zipse highlighted China's crucial role in BMW's global supply chain, particularly in its electric vehicle (EV) battery partnerships.

"BMW is a global company. We're vividly connected with global supply chains. Many of them have some part also located here in China. Let's take vehicle batteries, for example. We have (Chinese) companies like CATL or EVE where we develop, blend and manufacture cells for our vehicles in China but also outside of China," said Zipse.

Emphasizing China's increasing importance for BMW since its entry in 1994, he reiterated the company's long-term confidence in the country, pointing to the huge portions of the population who do not yet own a car as cause for continued optimism.

"It's today by far our biggest single market we had. In the mid-term I remain optimistic because it's still the biggest car market in the world. And the mobility rate in China for its 1.4 billion inhabitants is still fairly low. So compared to Europe or the United States, there's still a large gap which can be fulfilled," said the company chairman.

He also praised the advanced technologies coming out of China, stating that BMW hopes to collaborate with China in exporting its innovations.

"The second positive thing I think is, it's a highly innovative market. So it's not only about this market, it's also about developing something here for the world. The whole technology export business, where we can profit from that also in Germany or other parts of the world. So generally we are still positive and we invest here and we want to be part of that society here as well," Zipse said.

Chinese vice premier, US trade representative hold video call on economic issues

2025-03-26 22:30 Last Updated At：03-27 00:17

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is China's lead official for China-U.S. economic and trade affairs, held a video call with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at the latter's invitation on Wednesday.

Focusing on the implementation of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state during their phone call on January 17 this year, the two sides exchanged views on major bilateral economic and trade issues in a candid and in-depth manner.

The Chinese side expressed grave concerns over additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports under the pretext of the fentanyl issue, the Section 301 investigation that target Chinese imports, and planned "reciprocal" tariffs.

Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative to impose tariffs or other import restrictions on foreign products after determining that "an act, policy, or practice of a foreign country is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts United States commerce."

Both sides confirmed their belief that stable China-U.S. economic and trade relations are in the interests of both countries and agreed to maintain communication on each other's concerns.