China Makes Ending Price Wars a Top Priority Amid Trade Tensions
中国将遏制价格战列为贸易紧张局势下的首要任务

China’s top leadership emphasized its determination to reduce excess competition in the economy, with President Xi Jinping endorsing a campaign targeting one major cause of deflation and tensions with trade partners.
中国最高领导层强调要减少经济中的过度竞争，国家主席习近平支持开展针对通缩主因及贸易伙伴紧张关系的专项整治。

The Communist Party’s decision-making Politburo vowed to ramp up its management of overcapacity in key industries, according to a readout published Wednesday by the official Xinhua News Agency. “We’ll address disorderly competition among enterprises according to the law,” leaders said.
据新华社周三发布的会议纪要，中共中央政治局承诺将加强对重点行业产能过剩的治理。领导人表示："要依法规范企业无序竞争行为"。

Local government practices in attracting investment will also be regulated, it added.
地方政府招商引资行为也将受到规范。

About an hour later, Xinhua published a separate call from Xi to “break involution,” a phrase referring to a destructive state of intense competition sparked by excess capacity that forces people to overwork despite diminishing returns. Xi’s comments were delivered to non-party members at a seminar earlier this month.
约一小时后，新华社另文引述习近平关于"破除内卷化"的呼吁。该术语描述产能过剩引发的恶性竞争状态，即人们被迫过度劳动却收益递减。习近平这番讲话是在本月初一场党外人士座谈会上作出的。

“This is a very high-level signal that shows ‘anti-involution’ is absolutely a policy focus right now,” said Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Group. “The pledge to regulate local governments’ investment promotion practices is a very good diagnosis of the root cause of the involution problem,” although it’s hard to predict how far Beijing can go to fix the issue, he added.
"这是极高规格的政策信号，表明'反内卷'绝对是当前施政重点，"麦格理集团中国首席经济学家胡伟俊表示，"规范地方政府招商行为的承诺，精准切中了内卷问题的根源"，不过他补充说难以预判中央政府能推进到何种程度。

Xi earlier this month questioned the need for local governments to crowd into the same emerging industries, inflaming the over-capacity and price war problems. Regional officials have in the past offered tax breaks and subsidies to appeal to investors, leading to a glut of goods in the hottest sectors.
习近平本月早些时候对地方政府扎堆涌入同一新兴产业提出质疑，指出这加剧了产能过剩和价格战问题。过去地方官员常以税收减免和补贴吸引投资者，导致热门行业商品严重过剩。

The 24-member Politburo typically gathers at the end of July to discuss economic policy for the second half of the year. This week’s meeting came hours after trade talks led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng wrapped in Stockholm. That huddle was aimed at extending a 90-day truce to sky-high tariffs that could cut off bilateral trade.
由 24 人组成的中央政治局通常在 7 月下旬召开会议讨论下半年经济政策。本周会议召开前数小时，美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特与中国副总理何立峰在斯德哥尔摩主导的贸易谈判刚刚结束。该会谈旨在延长可能切断双边贸易的高额关税 90 天休战期。

The Chinese economy has held up surprisingly well in the face of US tariffs, thanks to exports and government support for consumer spending and investment. But deflationary pressures are intensifying, with top officials calling for an end to price wars that are deepening a downward spiral in company profits and wages. The US and other trade partners have also criticized China’s excess manufacturing capacity.
面对美国关税，中国经济表现出惊人的韧性，这得益于出口增长及政府对消费和投资的支持。但通缩压力正在加剧，高层官员呼吁停止价格战，这种恶性竞争正使企业利润和工资陷入螺旋式下降。美国及其他贸易伙伴也批评中国制造业产能过剩问题。

While celebrating the “great vitality and resilience” the world’s No. 2 economy has displayed this year, the Politburo acknowledged that “risks and challenges are still rife.” Its members vowed to focus on implementing existing pro-growth measures to keep activity humming.
在庆祝世界第二大经济体今年展现出"巨大活力和韧性"的同时，中共中央政治局承认"风险挑战仍然较多"。政治局成员誓言将重点落实现有稳增长措施，以保持经济活力。

“Macroeconomic policies must remain robust and be strengthened when necessary,” according to the readout, which said leaders pledged to accelerate government bond issuance and fund use. Monetary policy should keep liquidity “ample” and reduce borrowing costs, it added.
会议纪要显示，"宏观经济政策必须保持稳健，必要时还要强化"，领导人承诺加快政府债券发行和资金使用。纪要还补充称，货币政策应保持流动性"合理充裕"并降低融资成本。

The Politburo also announced the party’s next key conclave — known as the fourth plenum — would be convened in October, without setting specific dates. That close-door huddle of some 400 Communist Party elites will help craft Beijing’s next half-decade blueprint for development, as it contends with risks to the economy at home and abroad.
中共中央政治局还宣布，党的下一届重要会议——即十九届四中全会——将于 10 月召开，但未公布具体日期。这场约 400 名共产党精英参与的闭门会议将制定北京未来五年的发展蓝图，同时应对国内外经济风险。

Beijing’s tone has shifted since the Politburo met in April at the height of trade tensions with the US, when top officials were readying contingency plans to ward against external shocks. At the time, they pledged more measures to support the economy and stabilize employment, while signaling a patient approach to further stimulus after committing to a record-high budget deficit just weeks earlier.
自 4 月政治局会议在中美贸易摩擦最激烈时期召开以来，北京方面的基调已发生变化。当时高层官员正制定应急预案以防范外部冲击，他们在承诺创纪录高预算赤字仅数周后，一方面誓言将采取更多措施支持经济、稳定就业，另一方面也释放出对进一步刺激政策保持耐心的信号。

So far this year, economic growth has exceeded the official about 5% annual expansion target. With President Donald Trump easing his stance toward Beijing, China and the US have more recently loosened some of their punitive measures against each other, such as export controls on some lower-end chips and rare earth magnets.
今年以来，中国经济增长已超过官方设定的约 5%年度目标。随着美国总统特朗普对北京立场趋于缓和，中美双方近期逐步解除部分相互制裁措施，例如对部分中低端芯片和稀土永磁体的出口管制。

That’s allowed Beijing to keep major stimulus in reserve for any slowdown ahead.
这使得北京方面得以保留大规模刺激措施，以应对未来可能出现的经济放缓。

“Policy stance will remain on the easing side,” said Lynn Song, chief Greater China economist at ING Bank NV. “But the immediate urgency may not be that high given we have had stronger-than-expected first-half growth and there seems to be a high possibility for a trade truce extension with the US.”
荷兰国际集团大中华区首席经济学家宋林表示："政策立场仍将偏向宽松。但鉴于上半年经济增长强于预期，且中美贸易休战延期的可能性很高，当前的紧迫性或许没那么大。"

China’s policymaking has been described as “reactive” by economists in recent years, as officials try to strike a balance between maintaining growth and curbing debt. As a result, Beijing typically tries to inject just enough stimulus to make sure its expansion targets are met.
近年来，经济学家将中国的政策制定形容为"被动应对型"，因为官员们试图在维持增长与遏制债务之间取得平衡。因此，北京方面通常只注入刚好足够的刺激措施，以确保实现其增长目标。

Economic performance this quarter will be critical to decisions over how much — and what type of — support to unleash. Officials were asked by the Politburo to stabilize employment, businesses and markets, and “strive to achieve annual economic and social development targets.”
本季度的经济表现将决定政府释放何种规模及类型的支持措施。中共中央政治局要求官员们稳定就业、企业和市场，并"努力实现全年经济社会发展目标"。

New growth drivers from service consumption should be fostered, alongside an expansion in spending on goods, it said. Domestic demand still remains vulnerable to a slumping property market and subdued business and consumer confidence.
声明指出，在扩大商品消费的同时，应培育服务消费这一新增长动能。当前国内需求仍易受房地产市场低迷及企业与消费者信心不足的影响。

The government has been front-loading fiscal aid to offset the impact of Trump’s tariffs. It’s also delivered interest-rate cuts and added long-term liquidity to the banking system.
政府已提前部署财政援助以抵消特朗普关税的影响，同时实施降息并向银行系统注入长期流动性。

More recently, the central bank has started to telegraph a less dovish stance as the economy continued to fare well, dropping a previous vow to lower rates at an appropriate time in its recent statements. Instead, it’s pledged to monitor the impact of measures already implemented.
近期，随着经济持续向好，央行开始释放不那么鸽派的信号，在最新声明中删除了此前"适时降息"的承诺，转而强调将密切关注已出台政策的效果。

Finance Minister Lan Fo’an in an article Wednesday indicated a focus on implementing planned policies. While he provided little guidance on new measures, the ministry and local governments have trillions of yuan in annual bond issuance quota left for the coming months to support growth.
财政部长蓝佛安在周三的一篇文章中表示，将重点落实既定政策。尽管他对新举措的指导有限，但财政部和地方政府在未来几个月仍有数万亿元的年度债券发行额度可用于支撑经济增长。