Finance & economics | Involutionary road

Xi Jinping wages war on price wars

Unfortunately for China’s leader, his own policies are often to blame for them

illustration of a traditional Chinese pagoda, leaning to the right, with a blank price tag hanging from its top
Illustration: Alex Nabaum
|Hong Kong|7 min read

When firms raise prices, “gouging” their customers, many governments complain. Some cannot resist intervening. But in today’s China, the opposite is happening. In May the state reprimanded carmakers not for raising prices, but for cutting them. “There are no winners in this price war,” it said, blithely ignoring the happy customers who can now buy a zippy electric car for less than $8,000.

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This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Involutionary road”

From the July 5th 2025 edition

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