China said on Friday Japan's plans for export controls on chips, among other things, could damage business relations.

Beijing has never fully co-operated with international investigators, impeding the search for a definitive answer. But scientists continue their quest to establish the causes of a global health crisis that killed millions of people, caused trillions of dollars of economic damage and increased fears over the risks of virus research.

China offered deep condolences over the Washington air disaster, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on Friday on its official website.

On the campaign trail last year, President Donald Trump talked tough about imposing tariffs as high as 60% on Chinese goods and threatened to renew the trade war with China that he launched during his first term.

E VEN AS AMERICA’S relationship with China enters a new, less predictable era, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping see the value in talking. On January 17th the leaders had a “very good” phone call, wrote Mr Trump on social media.

It was the latest thaw in relations between the two countries, whose troops were involved in deadly skirmishes high in the Himalayas in 2020.

Nvidia said in a statement it is "ready to work with the administration as it pursues its own approach to AI."

Apple beat Wall Street's quarterly profit estimates on Thursday, but iPhone sales and China revenue for the holiday quarter were weak due to stiff Chinese competition and a slow rollout of artificial intelligence features.

With less than 24 hours before President Donald Trump's deadline to impose sweeping tariffs on the three biggest US trading partners -- Canada, Mexico and China -- the global economy is bracing for impact.