Interview: Web Summit CEO says U.S. tariffs "a huge mistake"
Cosgrave made the remarks during an online interview on the sidelines of the Web Summit Rio, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from April 27 to 30. The event is part of a series of Web Summit activities, including the flagship technology conference held annually in Lisbon since 2016.
"It's a huge mistake by the United States. They've decided to turn over the card that determines whether they are the hegemon anymore. It's quite clear we no longer live in a unipolar world," Cosgrave told Xinhua via video link, commenting on the broader impact of the U.S. tariffs on trading partners, including China.
"The United States doesn't really produce much. There's a huge dependency on China for supply chains," he added.
According to an earlier report by the Financial Times, the U.S. accounts for just 13 percent of global goods imports, a decline from nearly one-fifth two decades ago.
Data from the Chinese authorities shows that China remains America's second-largest source of imports, with U.S. imports from China accounting for 13.8 percent of the country's total imports in 2024.
Commenting on the escalating trade tensions initiated by the U.S. administration, Cosgrave said: "The U.S. is in a terrible place, and eventually Trump is going to have to back down."
Regarding China's growing influence in the global arena, Cosgrave observed that the Asian country will play a significant role. He noted that China has built up "incredible industrial competence" carefully and strategically, with its education system and research capacity standing at a leading level globally.
Each year, the Web Summit conference brings together a global community of founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to connect and exchange ideas about the technology and trends shaping the world.
Since its launch in Dublin in 2009, Web Summit events -- including Web Summit in Lisbon, Web Summit Rio in Brazil, Web Summit Qatar in the Middle East, and RISE in Asia -- have gathered nearly one million people, according to the organizer.
Its newest event, Web Summit Vancouver, will take place from May 27-30.
"We've continued to expand. We started with the event in Europe many years ago, and we've expanded elsewhere in the world," Cosgrave said, adding that the company is now eyeing opportunities in Hong Kong or nearby cities in Asia.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BusinessToday
an hour ago
- BusinessToday
China Grants 90-Day Visa-Free Access To Malaysians For Short-Term Visits
Malaysians will enjoy visa-free entry into China for short-term visits totalling up to 90 days within 180 days, effective July 17, under a new bilateral agreement. According to a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, the Malaysia-China Mutual Visa Exemption Agreement allows Malaysian and Chinese passport holders to enter, exit or transit through each other's countries without a visa for stays of up to 30 days per visit. The visa-free arrangement covers purposes including tourism, family visits, business, cultural exchange, personal matters, medical treatment and travel as a crew member. However, the cumulative duration of stay must not exceed 90 days within any 180 days, the embassy noted. Travellers intending to stay longer than 30 days or those planning to work, study, engage in media activities or undertake other pre-approved matters must apply for the appropriate visa before entry. Related
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Nvidia to boost H20 chip sales to China after US export restrictions ease
BEIJING/SHANGHAI: Nvidia will ramp up supply of Chinese-compliant H20 chips in the coming months and look to bring more advanced semiconductors to the world's second-largest technology market, Chief Executive Jensen Huang said at an event in Beijing. Huang's remarks came after the world's most valuable company said it planned to resume sales of the H20 artificial intelligence chip to China, a move US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said was part of negotiations on rare earths. "H20 was released from its ban, the memory bandwidth is extremely good, for LLMs and other new models it will be excellent," Huang said. "I hope to get more advanced chips into China. Today H20 is still incredibly good, but in coming years, whatever we are allowed to sell to China we will do so." The planned resumption is a reversal of an export restriction imposed in April over US national security concerns. Huang has said that US tech giant Nvidia's leadership position could slip without sales to China, where developers were being courted by Huawei Technologies with chips produced in China. His comments come days after he met with US President Donald Trump, as Nvidia walks a tightrope between the world's two biggest economies, both vying for dominance in AI and other cutting-edge technologies. Huang told media on the sidelines of the supply chain expo in Beijing that licenses for Chinese orders would be approved swiftly, noting: "There are many order books already in." Orders from Chinese companies for H20 chips need to be sent by Nvidia to the US government for approval. NEW CHIP Sources said internet giants ByteDance and Tencent were in the process of submitting applications. ByteDance denied it was submitting applications while Tencent did not respond to a request for comment. Nvidia has also announced it is developing a new chip for Chinese clients called the RTX Pro GPU, that would also be compliant with US export restrictions. Huang said the new chip would be designed specifically for smart factories and for robot training purposes. "Here in China, because there's so much robotics innovation going on, and so much smart factory work being done here, and the supply chain is so vast, RTX Pro is perfect," Huang said. At the expo opening, he described AI models from Chinese firms Deepseek, Alibaba and Tencent as "world class" and said AI was "revolutionising" supply chains.
Focus Malaysia
an hour ago
- Focus Malaysia
Glove exports drop again in May as inventory consolidation drags on
THE prospects of the rubber products sector remain bleak, in our view, due to the unfavourable operating environment caused by a longer-than-expected period of inventory consolidation. That said, competition remains intense in non-US markets due to the hostile pricing strategy adopted by Chinese manufacturers. 'We also expect the commissioning of new plants in Indonesia and Vietnam to pose a threat to Malaysia's rubber product sales to the US by as early as Nov 2025,' said RHB. According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the country's glove exports saw month-on-month (MoM) declines of 22% and 6% in April and May. This suggests that customer restocking activities remain sluggish as the industry experiences a longer-than-expected gestation period following the front-loading that occurred in quarter four 2024 (4Q24). Continued weakness of the USD against the MYR has also further eroded glovemakers' profitability, with the USD depreciating by 3% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 5.4% year-to-date ( YTD)as of June. The pricing power of Malaysian glove manufacturers has diminished since the entry of Chinese manufacturers, based on our observation. We understand that cost pass-through is now more challenging than during the pre-COVID-19 period, as glovemakers are only able to pass on 50% of any cost increase to customers vs a full cost passthrough previously. With no signs of competition easing, we expect glovemakers' profitability to remain under pressure in the near future. Mandatory EPF contribution for foreign labour is set to kick off by October. We expect this to raise glovemakers' cost of production by 0.8-1% (USD0.15-0.20 per thousand pieces). Meanwhile, the expanded sales & service tax (SST) of 5% applicable to imported natural rubber latex and nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) latex is expected to raise production costs by USD0.25-0.30 (1.3-1.5%). This confluence of factors come at a time when the industry is already grappling with intense competition and limited ability to pass through rising costs to customers. Sector valuation looks attractive, hovering at 0.9x P/B, at 1.2SD below its historical average of 1.2x. However, given the lack of near-term re-rating catalysts, we would not recommend investors to accumulate at this level. As the risk of earnings disappointment in the upcoming August reporting period is high, we think the share price could undergo another round of corrections. The last time the sector was traded at such levels was during 1Q23, where the industry's profit hit a trough level during a period of consolidation. Persistent challenges in cost pass-through, coupled with a rising operating cost environment and a weaker USD are expected to weigh on glovemakers' profitability moving forward. We think cost pass-through will remain challenging, as Malaysia's blended ASPs have hovered between USD19 and USD22 in 1H25, largely unchanged from 4Q24's level. Despite having a competitive edge over Chinese manufacturers – both before and after the announcement of the US reciprocal tariffs – Malaysian glovemakers have been unable to leverage this advantage to raise ASPs. In our view, several factors are at play: i) The pricing formula for gloves primarily comprises raw material prices and FX movements, which means that any price adjustment must be substantiated by those elements (tariff advantages over competitors are not factored in) and ii) customers remain highly price-sensitive, particularly as they continue to manage elevated inventory levels that have yet to be consumed. Natural latex prices last traded at USD1.40 per kg in June vs its average price of USD1.44 per kg in May (-3%). Moving forward, natural latex prices are expected to normalise, thanks to stable supply post the winter season in Thailand (a major latex producing country). Meanwhile, acrylonitrile prices eased 3% MoM in June, averaging at USD1.15 per kg from USD1.18 in May. Moving forward, nitrile prices are expected to ease further due to uneven demand from downstream industries as well as the easing of feedstock prices (ie propylene). The natural gas tariff also spiked 6% MoM in June, averaging at USD3.67 per mmBtu in conjunction with the surge in crude oil prices. Natural gas prices will remain elevated, in our view, primarily driven by the demand-supply mismatch, as supply remains tight. Given the intensifying competition expected in late 4Q25, we hold the view that investor sentiment in the glove industry will remain weak throughout 2H25. In addition, the persistent challenges in cost pass-through, coupled with a rising operating cost environment – due to factors such as the expanded SST and mandatory EPF contribution for foreign workers – and a weakening USD are expected to weigh on glovemakers' profitability moving forward.—July 16, 2025 Main image: The Star
