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We now know who won the contest to attend an intimate dinner with President Donald Trump by buying his cryptocurrency — and he’s a familiar face to Securities and Exchange Commission regulators and law enforcement officials.

Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur, confirmed in an X post Tuesday that he was behind the account, labeled ‘SUN,’ that purchased the most $TRUMP meme coin to sit at the president’s table at a crypto-focused gala scheduled for Thursday.

‘Honored to support @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump’s Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!’ Sun wrote. ‘As the top holder of $TRUMP, I’m excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry.’

He capped the post with an American flag emoji.

Critics have blasted the dinner contest as potentially unconstitutional and a blatant opportunity for corruption. Trump has not publicly commented on the accusations, and the Office of Government Ethics has declined to comment. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The Trump administration is not directly involved in administering $TRUMP coin. As for the dinner, a White House official said in a statement that the president ‘is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself.’

‘President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

While Trump has not been as aggressive in directly promoting cryptocurrencies as some campaign backers in the industry had hoped, his administration has abandoned or paused many pending cases that had been brought against crypto entrepreneurs and businesses.

That includes Sun, who was charged in 2023 with market manipulation and offering unregistered securities. Regulators sought various injunctions against him that would have largely prevented him from participating in crypto in the U.S. The Verge, a tech industry website, had also reported Sun was the target of an FBI investigation.

But in February, the SEC, now controlled by Trump appointees, agreed to a 60-day pause of the suit in order to seek a resolution.

Two months earlier, Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), the crypto venture backed by Trump and his family, the website Popular Information reported.

Eventually, Sun became the largest publicly known investor in World Liberty after he brought his funding total to $75 million.

According to Bloomberg News, per the terms of World Liberty’s financial structure, 75% of the proceeds of token sales like Sun’s get sent to the Trump family as a fee — meaning they may have directly earned as much as $56 million.

On Jan. 22two days after Trump was inaugurated Sun posted on X, “if I have made any money in cryptocurrency, all credit goes to President Trump.”

In April, The Wall Street Journal reported that Joe Biden’s Justice Department had been investigating Sun, noting that researchers had estimated that more than half of all illicit crypto activity took place on Sun’s Tron blockchain platform. The Journal said it wasn’t clear whether the investigation was ongoing. It said Sun’s representatives declined to comment about what they called “baseless allegations about legal matters” while denying Tron enables criminal activity.

Sun may now be a multibillionaire, with a net worth estimated at $8.5 billion, according to Forbes. He reportedly was forced to spend $2 billion to shore up one of his crypto firms that was facing collapse in 2022.

He did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what he hoped to get out of the dinner with the president.

Sun has also earned headlines for purchasing ‘Comedian,’ an art installation composed of a banana duct-taped to a wall, for $6.2 million, and for buying lunch with Warren Buffett for $4.57 million.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Raising prices on consumers to cover the costs of President Donald Trump’s tariffs will be Target’s ‘very last resort,’ CEO Brian Cornell said Wednesday.

The remarks came as Target reported weaker-than-expected sales in its first quarter and cut its full-year forecast. The retailer, whose business hasn’t fared as well against rivals better known for bargain prices, has “many levers to use in mitigating the impact of tariffs,” Cornell said.

Major retailers appear to be treading cautiously around the question of price hikes after Trump slammed Walmart last weekend for warning that shoppers could pay more due to tariffs. In the days since, Target, Lowe’s and Home Depot have each made carefully worded remarks about the potential for higher prices or minimized discussion of tariffs altogether.

Walmart said last week that it customers would likely start seeing some prices climb as soon as this month because tariffs have created a more “challenging environment to operate in.” While presidents typically avoid appearing to dictate individual companies’ strategies, Trump castigated Walmart on his social media platform, demanding that it “EAT THE TARIFFS” and adding, “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

“We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins,” Walmart told NBC News Saturday in response to Trump’s post. Days later, Home Depot all but ruled out near-term price hikes, citing its scale and supply-chain arrangements. Lowe’s barely mentioned tariffs when it reported earnings Wednesday but said just 20% of what its shoppers buy now comes from China, after years of diversifying its sourcing.

For Target, Cornell emphasized that tariffs were just one factor in a series of “massive potential costs” the company is grappling with. He pointed to consumer uncertainty over the direction of the economy and a high-profile backlash over Target’s watering down of its diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The retailer had expanded those initiatives after police murdered George Floyd in its hometown, Minneapolis, five years ago this weekend.

Target has rolled out discounts over the past year to lure inflation-weary shoppers and touted plans to expand its third-party marketplace to offer a broader range of items. To deal with new trade policy challenges, it’s negotiating with vendors, reassessing its product lineup and adjusting its foreign supply chain, Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez told investors Wednesday.

‘Half of what we sell comes from the U.S.,’ he said, adding that Target is expanding production in the United States and in other countries outside of China, whose exports currently face a 30% import tax.

Target’s stock fell more than 5% Wednesday during a broader market sell-off.

Some major companies that sell products at leading retailers have raised prices or said they’re considering doing so, including toolmaker Stanley Black & Decker, consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, sportswear brand Adidas and toy maker Mattel.

Mattel, the maker of Barbie dolls, has also come under fire from Trump, who threatened to hit it with 100% tariffs this month, after it signaled price hikes were on the table.

Big companies generally have more latitude to handle cost increases and other economic headwinds than their smaller counterparts. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and independent business owners have warned that tariffs threaten to snuff out many small operators, chipping away at the competition for already large corporate rivals.

The National Retail Federation, which represents some of the biggest retailers in the country, has emphasized that risk in lobbying against new levies. “Small and medium-sized businesses will be disproportionately affected by the tariffs, with many saying they will have to raise prices or shut down,” it says on its website.

So far, “consumers are still spending despite widespread pessimism fueled by rising tariffs,” NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said in a statement last week after retail sales eked out a modest 0.1% rise in April.

But even the largest multinational companies aren’t insulated from tariff-driven uncertainty, the NFR and industry analysts say. Like Target, several large firms have revised or scrapped their financial outlooks in recent weeks, unsure how the White House’s trade agenda will affect them. Nike plans to increase prices on several items between now and June 1, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday.

Not every retailer is voicing tariff jitters. The parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls beat sales estimates Wednesday and maintained its full-year forecast. The discounter, which buys unsold merchandise from other brands that have already paid tariffs on much of it, said it expects to be able to handle the pressure from higher import taxes.

Sportswear brand Canada Goose, which makes popular winter jackets, also exceeded Wall Street expectations. But it joined the slew of companies pulling their forecasts for the rest of the year, citing an “unpredictable global trade environment.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa will hold crucial talks at the White House with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday in a high-stakes meeting that could improve or deteriorate already frosty relations between the nations.

Ramaphosa is hopeful his visit could end a diplomatic feud that sparked aid cancellations by Trump and fueled the expulsion of his nation’s ambassador to the US.

There are also fears that the African nation could now potentially lose some of its US trade privileges as relations between the two countries sour.

Ramaphosa’s trip comes just over a week after a group of 59 White South Africans arrived in the US after being granted refugee status.

Trump and his ally Elon Musk, who was born and raised in the country, claimed the South Africans were being persecuted back home. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was in the US national interest to prioritize White South Africans for refugee resettlement, telling a hearing that they’re “a small subset” who “are easier to vet.”

The Trump administration has sharply criticized an expropriation law, which was enacted in South Africa earlier this year. The law empowers South Africa’s government to take land and redistribute it with no obligation to pay compensation in some instances.

Trump claimed that lands belonging to South Africa’s minority Whites, who own 72% of the nation’s agricultural land, were being targeted for confiscation, and cited unverified claims that “a genocide is taking place” in South Africa. He added that “White farmers are being brutally killed” amid reports of farm attacks.

Trump also disapproves of South Africa’s genocide case before the International Court of Justice against the US ally Israel.

Ramaphosa’s office said he would “discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest” with the US president at the White House. Analysts say the meeting could pose a tipping point for their fraught ties.

The US is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner, and the African nation benefits the most from a US trade agreement that provides preferential duty-free access to US markets for eligible sub-Saharan African nations.

Under that agreement, South Africa is the main agricultural exporter and exports two-thirds of its agricultural goods to the US, tariff-free. But some US lawmakers want those benefits withdrawn when the trade agreement is reviewed this year.

‘A tricky place to be’

South African researcher Neo Letswalo describes the anticipated meeting as “make-or-break” and one that requires “supreme negotiation tactics” by Ramaphosa.

The South African leader is set for a tight rope walk at the White House, he added, reminiscing about a shouting match that broke out in the Oval Office between Trump, his Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late February.

He believes that “Ramaphosa would maintain his composure to iron out some of the misunderstandings that Trump’s administration officials have about South Africa.”

Other analysts, such as Christopher Afoke Isike, who is a professor of African politics and international relations at the University of Pretoria, believe that Ramaphosa can pull through, “considering the fact that he’s a businessman president like President Trump.”

Ramaphosa plans to soften the ground with a potential licensing deal for Starlink, a satellite internet service owned by Musk, Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya told Reuters Monday.

What could go wrong?

For Letswalo, the crucial talks between Trump and Ramaphosa could hit a brick wall if the White House makes costly demands.

“A dealbreaker would be a request by Washington for Pretoria to retrieve the Land Expropriation Act or Gaza Case in order to continue the US-SA relationship,” he said, adding, “it would be interesting to see how President Ramaphosa maintains the sovereignty and his statement of ‘not going to be bullied by America’, without compromising the pre-existing relationship with the US.”

That task could be one of Ramaphosa’s most challenging, according to André Duvenhage, a politics professor at South Africa’s Northwest University.

“This may be his single biggest challenge in terms of anything he had to deal with in his term as president of the Republic of South Africa.”

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Kursk for the first time since Moscow claimed to have completely recaptured the region following a surprise incursion by Ukrainian forces last year, Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

Putin met with municipal leaders in the city of Kurchatov and visited the Kursk nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction, the Kremlin said, according to TASS.

Video footage posted by Russian state media showed Putin dressed in a suit speaking with what appeared to be local volunteers.

The news agency did not report when the visit took place.

Last August Ukraine launched a shock incursion into Kursk, swiftly capturing territory in what was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since World War II.

Since then, Russia, with support from North Korean soldiers, has been fighting to oust Ukraine’s forces from its borders, while Kyiv poured precious resources into holding onto its territory there, with the view of using it as a key bargaining chip in any peace talks.

Putin claimed last month that Russian forces had recaptured Kursk and said North Korean soldiers took part in the fighting to recover territory in the region.

Kyiv has insisted its troops are fiercely battling to preserve their foothold in the territory.

Last week Ukraine said it is still pursuing the ground war inside Russia.

“We are continuing our active operations in the Kursk and Belgorod regions – we are proactively defending Ukraine’s border areas,” President Zelensky said in his nightly address last Wednesday.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

An off-the-cuff remark about never paying for rice has cost Japan’s agriculture minister his job, as pressure mounts on the government to solve the nation’s rice crisis.

Taku Eto resigned on Wednesday, telling reporters that he had concluded he was “not the right person for this role” after sparking a public backlash by saying that he had “so much rice at home that (he) could sell it.”

The cost of rice – Japan’s prime staple food – has become a major political issue, with prices surging to record highs this year and the government taking the rare steps of releasing emergency reserves and importing foreign rice.

Eto’s gaffe could not have come at a worse time for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government, which was already suffering from low approval ratings due to spiraling cost of living, weeks ahead of an election.

“I have never bought rice myself. Frankly, my supporters give me quite a lot of rice. I have so much rice at home that I could sell it,” Eto said in a speech over the weekend, drawing the ire of the public.

He later clarified he did buy his own rice and said he “deeply regretted” his comments.

“I made an extremely inappropriate remark as the minister responsible. For that, I apologize once again to the people of Japan,” Eto said Wednesday after tendering his resignation.

He added that he “fully recognized” the hardship people are facing due to soaring rice prices.

A major threat

Frustrations over the rising cost of living in Japan is shaping up to be a major threat for Prime Minister Ishiba and his Liberal Democratic Party as the country heads to the polls for upper house elections in July.

The latest approval ratings for Ishiba’s cabinet slipped to 27.4%, a record low, according to a poll by Japanese news agency Kyodo released on Sunday. Almost one in nine of the households surveyed said the government’s efforts to rein in rice prices had been insufficient.

Ishiba’s party, which has ruled Japan for almost all of its post-war history, suffered a crushing defeat in last year’s lower house election, but he held on to power by seeking support from minor parties.

Further defeat in the coming elections could threaten his coalition’s rule and spark calls for a new leader.

Rice price stubbornly high

Despite the government’s attempts to bring them down, rice prices in Japan have remained stubbornly high – almost twice what they were a year ago.

The average retail price of rice rose to 4,268 yen ($29.4 US) per five kilograms in the second week of May, reversing a brief decline in 18 weeks recorded in the previous month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Earlier this year, it took the rare step of putting hundreds of thousands of tons of rice from its emergency reserves up for auction, in a bid to drive down prices. Multiple auctions have since been scheduled until July, with hundreds of thousands of tons of rice being released.

Japan, which takes deep pride in its homegrown rice, has also scaled up imports of rice from overseas, mainly from the US. In April, it also imported South Korean rice for the first time since 1999.

Dealing with the rice crisis is now the job of Shinjiro Koizumi, a former environment minister and son of a former Japanese Prime Minister, who Ishiba has appointed to head the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“I have instructed Mr. Koizumi to make strong efforts to supply rice to consumers at a stable price, especially in light of the current high rice prices,” Ishiba said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

A suicide attack on a school bus in southwestern Pakistan killed three students of a military-run school on Wednesday, officials said, in the latest attack that underscores the deteriorating security situation in the region.

The explosion took place in the city of Khuzdar in restive Balochistan province and targeted a school bus carrying “a large number” of children of military officials, according to Yasir Dashti, a senior government official from the province.

38 people were wounded in the attack, Dashti said.

“The bus was carrying Army Public School children,” said Kaleem Ullah, a police official from Khuzdar.

Army Public Schools are a network of school across Pakistan for children of military staff.

At least three children and two adults were killed, according to a statement from the Pakistan military.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack so far.

Balochistan has been rocked for years by a separatist insurgency that seeks greater political autonomy and economic development in the strategically important and mineral-rich mountainous region.

Pakistan’s military accused “Indian proxies” of being behind the attack in a statement released shortly after the incident. It did not give evidence for its claims.

Pakistan has previously accused its neighbor and arch-rival of being behind attacks in Balochistan. New Delhi has denied the accusations.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “strongly condemned the cowardly attack” in a statement and repeated the military’s accusations that India was behind the attack.

India has long accused Pakistan of sheltering militant groups that have carried out attacks across the border, including a recent massacre of tourists in India-administered Kashmir, allegations Islamabad has denied.

Tensions between the two spiraled after that massacre and resulted in a brief four-day conflict earlier this month that was the most sustained fighting between the two in decades. A fragile ceasefire has held since then.

Wednesday’s attack comes just over two months after the deadly hijacking of a train by separatist militants in Balochistan.

In that incident the Baloch Liberation Army took more than 350 people – some of whom were security personnel – hostage, killing 27 of them.

Children have also been the target of some of Pakistan’s most devastating terror attacks.

At least 145 people, mostly school children, were killed in by Pakistani Taliban militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2014 – the worst terror attack in the country’s history.

The Pakistani Taliban’s most notable target was then 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was singled out and shot on October 9, 2012 as she rode to school in a van with other girls.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

The radio crackled, but the order barked into it was clear: Capture the commander and kill the others.

The chilling exchange was part of a series of radio transmissions between Russian forces that Ukrainian officials say provide further evidence that Russian superiors are ordering soldiers to execute surrendering Ukrainian troops in violation of international law.

Morris Tidball-Binz, the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said the radio transmissions and drone footage suggest the killing of surrendered soldiers by Russian forces, as has been reported by the UN.

Tidball-Binz, who has investigated similar suspected executions, called such incidents “grave breaches” of international law, adding that he believes this conduct could only be authorized by the highest authorities in Russia.

They “would not happen with such numbers and frequency without orders – or at the very least consent – from (the) highest military commanders, which in Russia means the Presidency,” he said.

Russian officials have previously denied that Russian troops have committed war crimes and insisted that Russia treats prisoners of war in accordance with international law.

The alleged executions of prisoners of war, among other widespread charges that Russian military forces are responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, could complicate efforts by US President Donald Trump to bring a swift conclusion to the war. Trump has sought to end the fighting with an erratic approach that has often seen him side with Russian President Vladimir Putin and saw his administration briefly interrupt a State Department initiative to track alleged war crimes by Moscow.

The official said he was examining similar material from other cases, which “strengthen the evidence of a directive from Russian commanding officers to kill Ukrainian soldiers who have surrendered or are in the process of surrendering.”

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s office said it has, as of May 5, opened 75 criminal investigations into the suspected executions of 268 Ukrainian prisoners of war. It said the number of alleged executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war has been rising, with eight cases involving 57 soldiers in 2022, eight cases involving 11 soldiers in 2023, 39 cases with 149 soldiers in 2024, and 20 cases so far this year, with 51 soldiers.

Yurii Bielousov, head of the war crimes department at the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office, said the rise was attributable to “instructions being given by top leaders of the Russian Federation, both political and military. We didn’t yet see a written order, but we had several examples of oral orders.”

Bielousov noted that Putin had said in March that Ukrainian soldiers captured in Russia’s Kursk region should be treated as terrorists. “Everyone knows how Putin treats people who they call terrorists. So, it’s almost a synonym for us to execute,” he said.

Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the secretariat at Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said another possible explanation for the killings was that the Russian military wanted to avoid the logistical issues of capturing and managing prisoners. “It complicates military logistics, from their point of view. The Russian command made a simple decision… to shoot captured prisoners.”

‘Take the commander captive and kill everyone else’

The Ukrainian intelligence official shared a transcript of the radio transmissions, which noted they were intercepted at 12:05 p.m. local time, when the Ukrainian position was stormed, and continued until 12:31 p.m., when apparent fears over a Ukrainian drone arriving causes the Russian commander to order a retreat.

The Russian commander can be heard ordering the killings on six separate occasions. According to the transcript of the intercepted transmissions, the commander’s first order was given at 12:22 p.m.

“Ask who is the commander. Who is the commander? Ask. Take the commander captive and kill everyone else,” he can be heard saying.

Four minutes later, he repeats the order twice.

“You do it. Take the commander captive, f**k off the others.”

“That’s it. Take the senior, get rid the f**k of the others!”

The commander frequently demands updates from his combat unit, who struggle to reply. “Someone, b*tch, answer, are the f**kers surrendering or not?”

The soldier referred to by the callsign “Arta,” who appears to be the main interlocutor, says they have not found a Ukrainian commander, only a “senior.”

At 12:28 p.m., the order is given on the radio a sixth time, and a soldier wearing a mask and a dark green uniform consistent with the Russian military can be seen emerging from the foliage, moving towards the captives.

“Get the f**k out! Take the senior, get rid of the others, f**k!” the commander said.

One Ukrainian soldier is visible in the grainy footage apparently gesturing to the Russians. Moments later, the masked soldier shoots him in the head. The voice of the Russian commander captured on the transmissions then asks if the killing is complete.

“Did you take them down? A question. Did you take them down? A question.”

“Arta! Arta! I’m Beliy, roger that!”

“We killed the f**king others.”

In the footage, another Ukrainian, presumably the commander who was motionless until that point, stands up, removes his body armor and is led away. The Russian commander radios his concern as a drone is seen rising over the smoke from an explosion. A retreat is then ordered.

The killing of surrendering Ukrainian troops is alleged by Ukrainian officials and international experts to be part of an orchestrated Russian policy. The incident appears to be one of the first times that intercepted radio transmissions have been linked to drone footage of a suspected execution.

Ukrainian officials claim the alleged executions are fueled by Russia’s cultural hatred of their opponents but are also meant for psychological impact. Okhrimenko said Russian soldiers had posted videos of the beheading and castration of Ukrainian troops to affect morale.

“Violence breeds violence,” he said, adding that Ukraine had increased training of its personnel to be sure Russian prisoners were held safely for later exchanges.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Looking for breakout stocks and top market leaders? Follow along Mary Ellen shares stock breakouts, analyst upgrades, and sector leadership trends to help you trade strong stocks in today’s market.

In this week’s episode, Mary Ellen reveals the stocks leading the market higher and explains what’s fueling their strength. She highlights base breakouts, analyst upgrades, and leadership stocks gaining momentum. In addition, she screens for emerging breakout candidates you should have on your radar.

This video originally premiered May 16, 2025. You can watch it on our dedicated page for Mary Ellen’s videos.

New videos from Mary Ellen premiere weekly on Fridays. You can view all previously recorded episodes at this link.

If you’re looking for stocks to invest in, be sure to check out the MEM Edge Report! This report gives you detailed information on the top sectors, industries and stocks so you can make informed investment decisions.

In this video, Frank dives into some of his favorite features on StockCharts.com. He then dissects the S&P 500 and Bitcoin price action, before exploring the the XLK Technology ETF’s explosive move off the lows. He also highlights a few recent trade ideas and setups worth watching. Get trade ideas and chart setups worth watching in today’s technical review.

This video originally premiered on May 20, 2025.

You can view previously recorded videos from Frank and other industry experts at this link.

BEIJING — One Chinese baby products company announced Tuesday it is officially entering the United States, the world’s largest consumer market — regardless of the trade war.

Shanghai-based Bc Babycare expects its supply chain diversification and the U.S. market potential to more than offset the impact of ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions, according to Chi Yang, the company’s vice president of Europe and the Americas.

“Even [if] the political things are not steady … I’m very confident about our product for the moment,” he told CNBC, adding he anticipates “very fast” growth in the U.S. in coming years. That includes his bold predictions that Bc Babycare’s flagship baby carrier can become the best-seller on Amazon.com in half a year, and that U.S. sales can grow by 10-fold in a year.

The $159.99 carrier, eligible for a $40 discount, already has 4.7 stars on Amazon.com across more than 30 reviews. The device claims to reduce pressure on the parent’s body by up to 33%. A far cheaper version of the baby carrier is a top seller among travel products for pregnancy and childbirth on JD.com in China.

Bc Babycare already has the carrier stocked in its U.S. warehouses, and has a network of factories and raw materials suppliers in the Americas, Europe and Asia, Yang said. “The global supply chain is one of the things we keep on building in the past couple years.”

The Trump administration has sought to reduce U.S. reliance on China-made goods and to encourage the return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. In a rapid escalation of tensions last month, the U.S. and China had added tariffs of more than 100% on each other’s goods. Last week, the two sides agreed to a 90-day pause for most of the new duties in order to discuss a trade deal.

Baby gear is particularly sensitive to tariffs since the majority of those sold in the U.S. are made in China, said U.S.-based Newell Brands, which owns stroller company Graco, on an April 30 earnings call. That’s according to a FactSet transcript.

The company said it raised baby gear prices by about 20% in the last few weeks, but had not incorporated the additional 125% tariffs announced in mid-April. Newell said on the call it had about three to four months of inventory in the U.S., and had paused additional orders from China.

The company did not respond to a request for comment about whether it had resumed orders from China and whether it planned more price increases.

Bc Babycare declined to share how much it planned to invest in the U.S. But Yang said the company plans to open an office in the country and hire about five to 10 locals.

The company initially plans to sell online, spend on marketing and eventually work with major retailers for offline store sales. Its partners for raw materials and research include three U.S. companies: Lyra, Dow and Eastman.

The Chinese company, which entered the baby products segment in 2014, in 2021 claimed a 700 million yuan ($97.09 million) funding round from investors including Sequoia Capital China.

Yang said the company scrutinizes the comments section on Chinese and U.S. e-commerce websites to improve its products. As a result, the U.S. version of the baby carrier is softer and larger than the Chinese version, he said.

Bc Babycare’s U.S. market ambitions reflect how large U.S. and European multinationals not only face growing competition in China, but also in their home markets.

“After experiencing substantial growth due to the premiumization of consumption in the Chinese market, multinational brands are now entering a challenging second phase where they compete fiercely for market share,” Dave Xie, retail and consumer goods partner in Shanghai at consultancy Oliver Wyman, said in a statement last week.

Oliver Wyman said in a report last month that the Chinese market has become the incubator for premium product innovations that are being exported. The authors noted, for example, that Tineco floor scrubbers have become Amazon best-sellers.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS