What’s new in the market this week

A.China extends visa-free policy for citizens of 12 countries including France, Germany, and Italy to come to China for short periods of time

According to CCTV News, in order to further promote personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries, China has decided to extend the visa-free policy for 12 countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg until December 2025. On the 31st, ordinary passport holders from the above-mentioned countries who come to China for business, sightseeing, visiting relatives and friends and transiting for no more than 15 days can enter China without a visa.

Data from Tongcheng Travel Platform shows that since April this year, the popularity of booking air tickets from France to China has increased by more than 150% compared with the same period last year. The popularity of booking air tickets from Germany to China has increased by more than 110% year-on-year. The popularity of booking air tickets from Italy to China has increased by nearly 100% year-on-year. double. In addition, international travel demand between Spain, the Netherlands and other countries that have obtained visa-free treatment and China is also accelerating its recovery.

B.German Transport Minister opposes EU tax increase on Chinese car companies: We want to participate in competition

On Wednesday local time, German Federal Minister of Digitalization and Transport Volker Wissing told the Stuttgart Daily News and other German media that he firmly opposed the EU's possible punitive tariffs on Chinese automakers. "We don't want to block the market, we want to compete," he stressed.

Wiesing said that the German government hopes that German companies will continue to create added value locally and remain competitive in global trade. "Because of this, we hope that international trade can be conducted in a fair and regulated competitive environment, rather than provoking trade wars by imposing punitive tariffs," he said. Wiesing believes this is crucial for a country like Germany that relies heavily on global trade.