SINGAPORE — Vincent Xue runs an online grocery retail business, offering fresh produce, canned food, packaged easy-to-cook ingredients to cost-conscious local consumers in Singapore.

Xue’s Nasdaq-listed Webuy Global sources primarily from suppliers in China. Since late last year, one third of his suppliers, saddled with excess inventory in China, have offered steep discounts of up to 70%.

“Chinese domestic markets are too competitive, some larger F&B manufacturers were struggling to destock their inventories as weak consumer demand drags,” he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC.

Xue has also gotten busier this year after sealing a partnership with Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo that has been making inroads into the Southeast Asian country.

“There will be about 5-6 containers loaded with Pinduoduo’s orders coming in every week,” Xue said, and Webuy Global will support the last-mile delivery to customers.

At a time when steep tariffs are deterring Chinese exports to the U.S., while domestic consumption remains a worry, overcapacity has led Chinese producer prices to stay in deflationary territory for more than two years. Consumer inflation has remained near zero.

Still, the country is doubling down on manufacturing, and this production overdrive is rippling through global markets, stirring anxiety in Asia that a flood of cheap imports could squeeze local industries, experts said.

“Every economy around the world is concerned about being swamped by Chinese exports … many of them [have] started to put up barriers to importing from China,” said Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy and economics at Cornell University.

But for inflation-worn economies, economists say the influx of low-cost Chinese goods comes with a silver-lining: lower costs for consumers. That in turn could offer central banks some relief as they juggle lowering living costs while reviving growth on the back of rising trade tensions.

For markets with limited manufacturing bases, such as Australia, cheap Chinese imports could ease the cost-of-living crisis and help bring down inflationary pressure, said Nick Marro, principal economist at Economist Intelligence Unit.

Emerging growth risks and subdued inflation may pave the way for more rate cuts across Asia, according to Nomura, which expects central banks in the region to further decouple from the Fed and deliver additional easing.

The investment bank predicts Reserve Bank of India to deliver additional rate cuts of 100 basis points during rest of the year, central banks in Philippines and Thailand to cut rates by 75 basis points each, while Australia and Indonesia could lower rates by 50 basis points, and South Korea by a quarter-percentage-point.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the world economy experienced the so-called “China shock,” when a surge in cheap China-made imports helped keep inflation low while costing local manufacturing jobs.

A sequel of sorts appears to be under way as Beijing focuses on exports to offset the drag in domestic consumption.

Chinese exports to the ASEAN bloc rose 11.5% year on year in the first four months this year, as shipments to the U.S. shrank 2.5%, according to China’s official customs data. In April alone, China’s shipments to ASEAN surged 20.8%, as exports to U.S. plunged over 21% year on year.

These goods often arrive at a discount. Economists at Goldman Sachs estimate Chinese products imported by Japan in the past two years to have become about 15% cheaper compared to products from other countries.

India, Vietnam and Indonesia have imposed various protectionist measures to provide some relief for domestic producers from intense price competition, particularly in sectors facing overcapacity and cheap imports.

While for a large number of countries an influx of Chinese goods is a trade-off between lower inflation and the adverse impact on local production, countries such as Thailand could be facing a double-edged sword.

Thailand will likely be the hardest-hit by “China shock,” even sliding into a deflation this year, Nomura economists predict, while India, Indonesia and the Philippines will also see inflation falling below central banks’ targets.

While Elon Musk has ended his government cost-cutting initiative that resulted in thousands of federal job cuts, mass layoffs are still roiling corporate America.

Companies are under increasing pressure to trim costs against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty brought on by President Donald Trump‘s tariff policies. Several companies have announced price hikes. Layoffs mark another way to pull back.

Trade tensions have also raised concerns about the general health of the U.S. economy and the job market. While the April jobs reading was better than expected, a separate reading from ADP this week showed private sector hiring hit its lowest level in more than two years.

Though many companies declined to provide specific reasoning for announced workforce reductions — instead lumping the layoffs in with larger cost-cutting strategies or growth plans — tech leaders are starting to cite artificial intelligence as a clear consideration in hiring and headcount adjustments.

Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC last month the fintech company has shrunk its headcount by 40%, in part due to investments in AI. Likewise, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke told employees in April that they will have to prove why tasks can’t be performed by AI before asking for more headcount and resources.

Here are some of the companies that have announced layoffs in recent weeks:

Pampers and Tide maker Procter & Gamble said on Thursday it will cut 7,000 jobs, or about 15% of its non-manufacturing workforce, over the next two years as part of a restructuring program.

CFO Andre Schulten said during a presentation that the company is planning a broader effort to implement changes across the company’s portfolio, supply chain and corporate organization.

The company did not specify the regions or divisions that would be impacted.

Microsoft said last month it would reduce its workforce by about 6,000 staffers, totaling about 3% of employees across all teams, levels and geographies.

A Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC at the time one objective of the cuts was to reduce layers of management. The company announced a smaller round of layoffs in January that were performance-based. The spokesperson said the May cuts were not related to performance.

Citigroup said in a statement Thursday it plans to reduce its staff by around 3,500 positions in China.

The cuts mostly affect the information technology services unit, which provides software development, testing and maintenance. Some of the impacted roles will be moved to Citi’s technology centers elsewhere, the bank said.

Under the leadership of CEO Jane Fraser, Citi has undertaken a large-scale reorganization with an eye toward profitability and stock performance. The bank consistently underperformed its major bank peers in recent years.

Citi announced a broader plan last year to reduce its workforce by 10%, or about 20,000 employees globally.

Last month, Reuters reported Walmart was planning to slash about 1,500 jobs in an effort to simplify operations. The teams affected include global technology, operations and U.S.-based e-commerce fulfillment as well as Walmart Connect, the company’s advertising business.

Walmart employs around 1.6 million employees, making it the largest U.S. private employer. CFO John David Rainey told CNBC during an interview last month that Walmart shoppers would likely see price increases at the start of the summer in response to tariffs.

Klarna’s Siemiatkowski told employees last month that the Swedish buy now, pay later firm would lay off 10% of its global workforce.

“When we set our business plans for 2022 in the autumn of last year, it was a very different world than the one we are in today,” Siemiatkowski told employees.

The week before that announcement, he told CNBC that Klarna has shrunk its workforce by about 40% due to investments in AI and natural attrition in its workforce.

Cybersecurity software maker CrowdStrike announced plans last month to cut 500 employees, or about 5% of its staff.

CEO George Kurtz in a securities filing attributed the move largely to artificial intelligence.

“We’re operating in a market and technology inflection point, with AI reshaping every industry, accelerating threats, and evolving customer needs,” he said, adding that the move was part of the company’s “evolving operating model.”

The Walt Disney Company said earlier this week it plans to cut several hundred employees worldwide across several divisions. The layoffs impact teams in film and TV marketing, TV publicity and casting and development.

The cuts are part of a larger effort to operate more efficiently, a Disney spokesperson said.

Online education firm Chegg said last month it would lay off 248 employees, or about 22% of its workforce. The cuts come as AI-powered tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT take over education.

CEO Nathan Schultz said on the company’s May earnings call that the layoffs are part of a cost reduction plan and he expects cost savings of between $45 million and $55 million this year, followed by a further $100 million to $110 million next year.

Amazon said in May it would eliminate about 100 jobs in its devices and services division, which includes the Alexa voice assistant, Echo hardware, Ring doorbells and Zoox robotaxis.

A spokesperson for Amazon told CNBC at the time the decision was part of an ongoing effort to “make our teams and programs operate more efficiently.”

The cuts come as CEO Andy Jassy has sought out cost-trimming efforts at the company. Since the beginning of 2022, Amazon has laid off roughly 27,000 employees.

Warner Bros. Discovery will lay off fewer than 100 employees, according to multiple media reports this week.

No particular network or channel would be affected more than others, according to the reports.

The WBD cuts follow the company’s move to reorganize into two divisions: a global linear networks division and a streaming and studios unit. That process was completed during the first quarter.

— CNBC’s Amelia Lucas, Jordan Novet, Anniek Bao, Melissa Repko, Ryan Browne, Annie Palmer, and Reuters contributed to this report.