China is winning in the global south

The Global South is the new commerce battleground as rapidly expanding Chinese firms take on Western corporate giants, The Economist argued. Listed Chinese companies’ sales in those fast-growing economies have quadrupled since 2016 to hit $800 billion. Slow economic growth in China has forced its businesses to look abroad, and Western trade restrictions on Chinese imports of solar panels and electric vehicles has made the Global South more appealing.

While the consequences of the West’s “decision to turn inward to shield itself from Chinese competition will take years to become completely clear,” The Economist wrote, its biggest multinationals are already “surrendering ground in the world’s fastest-growing and most populous markets.”