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Beijing’s attempts to subdue the price wars span multiple industries, from electric vehicles to solar panels, and are taking place at a time of slowing economic growth. Intensifying competition at home has pushed more Chinese companies to seek growth overseas, helping drive the country’s trade surplus to $1.2tn in 2025.
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Several Chinese scholars with close knowledge of SAMR [State Administration for Market Regulation] cautioned that SAMR remained short-staffed and lacked the resources to pursue complex investigations at scale. As a result, the agency has relied more heavily on less resource-intensive measures, such as summoning executives for warnings, while leaning on the State Council, China’s cabinet, to publicly support its efforts to discourage price wars.
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Despite public calls from regulators to halt the competition in July and summoning executives in for a meeting, the price war persisted throughout the summer as platforms kept battling for market share.
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