Day: September 22, 2025

• Bernard Arnault slammed France’s proposed 2% wealth tax.
• Arnault, who is worth about $170 billion, said the tax would “destroy the French economy.”
• The economist behind the tax hike retaliated, saying Arnault’s comments “depart from rationality.”

Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man and the CEO of luxury giant LVMH, has criticized France’s proposed 2% wealth tax.

French economist Gabriel Zucman proposed the tax, which would be imposed on the ultra-rich with net worths of over 100 million euros, or about $117 million. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is now under pressure from the Socialist Party to include the wealth tax in France’s 2026 budget.

Speaking to British newspaper The Sunday Times, Arnault said, “This is clearly not a technical or economic debate, but rather a clearly stated desire to destroy the French economy.”

He slammed Zucman, calling him a “far-left activist” and saying that he was using some “pseudo-academic” expertise to destroy the liberal economy.

As of Monday, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegged Arnault’s net worth at $169 billion, placing him eighth on the world’s richest list. He once occupied the top spot when his net worth surpassed Elon Musk’s at the end of 2022.

Zucman responded to Arnault’s criticisms in a series of X posts on Sunday.

He said he was surprised by the “caricatural nature” of Arnault’s attacks on him, and the tycoon’s comments “depart from rationality and are unfounded.”

Zucman denied Arnault’s claims that his motives were political in nature. He said he has never been an activist in any movement or a member of any party, and his only work was as a researcher and teacher. According to his faculty profile, he teaches at the Paris School of Economics and UC Berkeley.

“Whatever you may think, the time has come to subject billionaires to a minimum tax rate,” Zucman wrote on X, calling it an “instrument of justice, social peace, and budgetary stability.”

Reuters reported that in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron scrapped France’s decadeslong wealth tax, which was imposed on individuals with assets above 1.3 million euros.

Protests broke out in France last week over the French government’s proposed budget cuts, with protesters carrying “tax the rich” banners in support of Zucman’s proposed tax plan.

Zucman and representatives for LVMH did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• China’s tech exports to the US have fallen 70% since the fourth quarter due to President Trump’s tariffs.
• Other Asian countries, like South Korea and Vietnam, are exporting much more to the US.
• Global demand for AI products remains strong, boosting Asia’s tech exports overall.

China’s tech exports to the US have cratered, but demand from the rest of the world is keeping the East Asian giant’s trade machine humming.

In August, Chinese shipments of tech products to the US plunged 70% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis published Sunday.

The collapse followed the rollout of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, including a 20% “fentanyl tariff” on all Chinese imports that took effect in March.

Meanwhile, other Asian economies filled the gap. From the fourth quarter through August, tech exports to the US from countries like South Korea, Vietnam, and India jumped 80%, according to Goldman.

Outside the US, Chinese tech exports didn’t suffer the same fate. Demand in Europe, Asia, and emerging markets kept growing.

“Tech exports to non-US destinations showed little difference between China and the rest of Asia, with tech exports from both performing similarly well compared to other sectors,” wrote Goldman’s analysts.

In July, China and the rest of Asia’s tech exports to non-US markets rose about 20% relative to the fourth quarter of 2024, “reflecting strength in global tech demand,” Goldman’s analysts wrote.

The tariffs underscore how Washington’s trade war is reshaping supply chains and driving high-tech decoupling with China.

But the divergence also reflects a bigger trend: a steady reordering of tech supply chains that accelerated during the pandemic and has been reinforced by Washington’s trade policies.

In 2017, nearly half of the US’s critical tech imports came directly from China. By 2025, that figure has fallen below 20%, Goldman estimated.

Taiwan, Mexico, Japan, India, and Vietnam have gained market share in the process.

Asia AI exports boom

Despite the pressure on China, Asia is thriving in the AI-fueled export boom.

Overall exports from the region rose 7% in dollar terms through August compared to a year earlier, Goldman said. Technology products accounted for more than 60% of those gains.

Taiwan has been the breakout winner, with over 70% of its exports coming from tech — the highest share in Asia.

In August, Taiwan’s exports surged 30% from the fourth quarter of 2024, powered by advanced chips and servers that are critical for AI data centers.

Goldman’s analysts wrote that they expect the reshuffling to continue.

“Tech supply chains will likely continue to shift, further driving high-tech decoupling between the US and China and reconfiguring of Asia’s trade within and outside the region,” they wrote.