China, US Agricultural Tariffs Take Effect... Trade War Hits the Dinner Table [3-Minute Brief]

① China Targets Only Trump’s Electoral Base Agricultural Products
② Credit Rating Downgrades Continue This Year... Concerns Over Another Homeplus
③ People Taking Side Jobs to Supplement Their Income

MARKET INDEX

○ Trump signals intent to push ahead with tariff policy even amid recession
○ Despite White House efforts to downplay, sell-offs continue amid "strong US economy" claims
○ Wall Street lowers growth forecasts and raises recession probabilities

TOP 3 NEWS

■ Trump’s electoral base hit… China imposes up to 15% additional tariffs on US soybeans and others

○ Additional '10%+10%' tariffs imposed on China
○ Retaliatory tariffs targeting Chinese agricultural and livestock products
○ Concerns over rising food prices in China due to tariffs

■ Domestic demand slump and China competition hit hard… Credit rating downgrades raise fears of a second Homeplus

○ Homeplus files for corporate rehabilitation following credit downgrade
○ Worsening sluggishness in retail, construction, and chemical sectors due to weak domestic demand and intensified China competition
○ Continued credit rating downgrades this year raise concerns about emergence of another Homeplus

■ "Spending exceeds earnings"… Construction workers holding 'two jobs' surge 34%

○ Construction sector increased by 33.65%, up 7.79 percentage points
○ Accommodation and food services rose 16.8%
○ "Concerns over worsening working conditions"

Graphic News: Taiwan accelerates 'Won-Jung-Geun-Mi'... The largest trading partner is changing

○ The trade surplus gap between US and China is the smallest in 32 years

○ Exports sharply drop to China and surge to the US... 'Cross' imminent

○ South Korea was Taiwan’s largest trade deficit country last year

Profitable Law

■ Bonuses paid differentially based on janitors’ attendance count are also considered ordinary wages

○ "The condition that one must be employed at a specific time to receive any wage
○ does not negate the nature of ordinary wages by itself"
☞Read article: https://www.asiae.co.kr/article/lawtimes/2025031015475695482

■ Even if disciplinary committee attendance notice received one day prior… Court rules "Dismissal justified"

○ Employee who embezzled colleague’s severance pay received disciplinary committee attendance notice one day before
○ Filed lawsuit claiming dismissal was unfair
○ Court confirmed "mail was properly delivered" and upheld guilty verdict
☞Read article: https://www.asiae.co.kr/article/lawtimes/2025031016002636448

■ "Upbit controls over 80% of the market"?Fair Trade Commission and Financial Services Commission may crack down on monopoly

○ "Regulation possible through corporate split and other fair trade measures"
○ "No precedent for virtual asset exchange regulation"
○ Considering second phase of comprehensive virtual asset regulation legislation
☞Read article: https://www.asiae.co.kr/article/lawtimes/2025031016100574836

※ 'Profitable Law,' a content partnership corner between Asia Economy and Law Times, is published every Tuesday and Thursday.

Today’s Key Schedule

○ Domestic

KOSDAQ Hanwha Plus No.5 SPAC subscription, fixed public offering price 2,000 KRW

KOSDAQ TXR Robotics subscription, fixed public offering price 13,500 KRW

KOSDAQ SimPlatform subscription, fixed public offering price 10,500 KRW

○ Overseas

08:30 Japan Household Spending (MoM) (January)

08:50 Japan GDP (QoQ) (Q4)

19:00 Eurozone Finance Ministers Meeting

23:00 US Department of Labor JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) (January)

◇ Lunch & Commute Weather

○ Lowest temperature 4℃(▲1℃) ｜ Highest temperature: 16℃(▲2℃)
○ Precipitation probability 20% in the morning｜20% in the afternoon
○ Fine dust level Moderate in the morning｜Bad in the afternoon

OK in 3 minutes, essential time-efficient economic news. Published daily at 8 AM.