This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: The USTR is still wavering on easing tariffs as Katherine Tai sees tariffs as "leverage" against China; Xi Jinping calls economic sanctions a "double-edged sword" in his opening speech at the BRICS Summit; TikTok's Chinese sister company Douyin wins rights for digital broadcast of the World Cup; and EV maker NIO responds after two people are killed when one of its pilot cars crashes through a wall at a parking garage and plummets three stories.

In addition, Nandini Venkata, Caixin Global's podcast producer, joins Kaiser to discuss the scandal in Henan over abuse of the COVID health code app.