# Asia Business Trends: Tariffs, Copper, Tax Reform

**Podcast:** Nikkei Asia News Roundup with Jada and Brian
**Published:** 2026-02-06

## Transcript

Nikkei Asia News Roundup with Jada and Brian.
Welcome to the Nikkei Asia News Roundup with your hosts, Jada and Brian.
Bringing you the latest updates and insights on the dynamic world of Asia and more.
Now let's delve into the headlines.
This program is brought to you by Nikkei.
As the startup running it bets that building upward rather than outward could mean greater food self-sufficiency in a country where growing space is limited.
China's natural gas production reached an all-time high last year due to the state-backed rush to develop shale fields and other non-conventional sources, reaching a level capable of supplying 60% of domestic consumption.
As the former rival's eye-boosting convenience to attract foreign tourists, China's Anta Sports Products is buying a 29% stake in German peer Puma for 1.5 billion euros or 1.78 billion dollars in cash, making it the latest addition to Anta's portfolio of brands, which include Fila, Desant, and Cologne Sport.
The shock of U.S.
tariffs has sent furniture producers in Vietnam, the world's number two furniture exporter after China, to the Middle East and India in search of customers.
Now moving on to the next segment.
Analysts and industry observers generally share the view that within 10 to 15 years, copper will face a supply shortfall.
This tightness is hard to fix.
The average ore grade, the amount of copper obtained per ton of ore, fell by about 40% over the past three decades.
As ore bodies closer to the service have already been mined out, miners have to dig deeper and in more challenging areas, adding to operating costs.
These rising costs are in turn making miners think twice about committing to greenfield projects.
New developments now take an average of 17 years to move from discovery to production, according to SP Global.
Thailand sees first decline in Japanese restaurants in 2025.
The number of Japanese restaurants in Thailand fell for the first time in 2025, reflecting both an economic slowdown and a shrinking Japanese expatriate community in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.
According to a survey published last month by the Japan External Trade Organization's Bangkok office, 5,781 Japanese restaurants were operating in Thailand last year, down 2.3% from 2024, and the first decline since the survey began in 2007.
The annual survey covers restaurants where Japanese cuisine constitutes most of the menu, and those serving Japanese-inspired dishes.
The fact that the number of shops have been growing steadily until now and is declining for the first time marks a turning point, Ichiro Abe, president of Jetro Bangkok, told reporters at a news conference.
The survey found the number of Japanese restaurants declined in most provinces of the country.
In Bangkok, the number dropped 2.4% to 2,609 shops.
The decline in the number of Japanese expatriates and tourists, who are the main customers, is one of the factors behind the drop in Bangkok, Jetro said in its report, based on responses from operators.
A regional manufacturing hub, Thailand has a large Japanese expatriate community, particularly in the automobile industry, but Japanese manufacturers' dominance is fading as automakers from China and elsewhere gain market share.
This is reflected in the falling number of Japanese living in Thailand, which dropped to 72,113 as of October last year, compared with 82,574 in 2021, according to Japanese foreign ministry statistics, and now for news highlights.
In this episode, Jada and I have a discussion about a recent article that has particularly captured our attention.
And today we'd like to talk about South Korea's inheritance tax.
Especially or estate tax.
Estate tax.
And I'm just gonna go straight to the graph on this one first, because we have a graph of inheritance and estate taxes around Asia.
And it's a it's a bar graph going up through percentages.
And Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, China, all zero.
Zero, oh this graph.
And then and then it starts going up.
The Philippines is it looks like it's like six or seven percent, and then you know Thailand's around around ten percent.
But then South Korea and Japan are way ahead with Japan at number one at fifty-five percent at the top rate.
But the one we're focusing on is South Korea, which is at fifty percent for the top rate.
Yes, and it hasn't been changed in like three decades.
And the demog I mean the demography, real estate prices have dramatically changed within that time.
That's the thing.
The rate hasn't changed, but the amount of wealth that is qualified has changed significantly as people's property values go up in their states and um houses that people inherit.
And then one of the other stats is that um people who qualified for the is it the top rate?
Top rates 50 percent.
The top rate of fifty percent, which is by the way, three billion yuan, which is yeah, current rates won, sorry, not yuan, that's the Chinese currency.
One is uh uh at the current exchange rate, that's about 2.1 million dollars.
And that's the top rate.
But there are estate taxes for rates below that.
Um people who qualify for that in 2007, so just that's less than 20 years ago, uh, was zero point seven percent.
By twenty twenty-three, it was six point eight percent.
So that's a significant jump in a short time.
Yeah, and that's the top rate in generally a lot of people are charged the 40% tax rate, which is for um estate values exceeding one billion one, which is about uh a little under $700,000, I think.
So I'm sure that rate has also uh jumped significantly.
And in Korea, like Japan, that it's also an aging society, right?
And um this uptake in um with more people facing the tax net, a lot of people were forced to sell their homes um to pay those tax bills, which it which has been a huge um issue.
And some people are even moving to Singapore, Hong Kong to to avoid it, right?
Yeah, there's some of the highest earners have uh it's just been a couple hundred, but they're like some of the richest people in the country, and they're moving, yeah, to Hong Kong and Samport to avoid this.
Yeah.
Um, but for people who are not as rich as that but still qualify for these, there's there's some anecdotes in here.
There was one I interesting, a guy he um bought uh his own place and then his mother died and he inherited her place, and her place was significantly more valuable.
And the taxes he would have to pay on it, his accountant or financial advisor said, you basically have to sell your own place in order to afford that.
So that's what I recommend.
So he worked up and he saved up and he bought his own place, and then immediately the way the tax system works, he has to get rid of it.
But that's also been the long-running road.
And um politically conservative conservative and liberal they are trying to do uh something needs to change.
But they can't agree on what to do.
No.
The main opposition party is saying that we should change the top rate from 50% to 40%, and also, you know, enlarge the deductions, uh, some some of the um criteria criteria for deductions.
But the ruling party is is uh they're saying leave the top tax bracket uh unchanged, but we should focus instead on expanding the deductions.
Um but it seems like yeah, they can't find a middle ground.
There seems to be um also public suspicion that the tax change would mostly benefit the rich.
Um so that's sort of been been a point that some people are making as well.
But and this has gone on so much recently that they don't think it's gonna get resolved within like at least the next year or two, and but it keeps on uh squeezing people because South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world right now.
And there is a bit of a housing situation, and people are being squeezed out of their houses, and at the same time, housing value is going up, and the people who are making money on the houses might be taxed on those houses.
And it it seems to be more confusing than beneficial to anybody.
True.
And uh South Korea is heading into or will have a election uh this year.
I think it's a provincial elections in June.
So I'm sure a lot of people will be campaigning with, you know, um uh that that this topic at the forefront.
But uh we'll see what the public decides, I guess.
And that brings us to the close of today's episode.
We look forward to having you join up again for the next edition of the Nikkei Asia News Roundup.
Stay informed, stay curious.
Until next time, I'm Jada.
And I'm Brian.
See you again and take care.
This program is brought to you by Nikkei.