By David Brunnstrom, Simon Lewis and Alasdair Pal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States, Australia, India and Japan recommitted to working together on Tuesday, after the first meeting of the China-focused "Quad" grouping's top diplomats since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

U.S. lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday that would revoke China's preferential trade status with the United States, phase in steep tariffs and end the "de minimis" exemption for low-value Chinese imports.

China's relations are starting to improvewith Japan, India and other countries that former U.S. President Joe Biden courted, just as Donald Trump brings his more unilateralist approach back to the White House.

Rubio's appointment as secretary of state has been seen as sign that Trump plans to maintain a hard line on China.

China's expanding footprint in Latin America is expected to be high on the agenda when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Panama next week on his first overseas trip since taking office, according to observers.

Fortunately, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong thought a full split was unlikely: "I can’t see how a full decoupling can happen at this stage."

Iranian cargo ships allegedly carrying chemicals to make missile propellent are setting sail from China to deliver the shipment to Tehran's army.

Two Iranian cargo vessels carrying an ingredient for missile propellant will sail from China to Iran in the next few weeks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing intelligence from security officials in two Western countries.

Whether it is over TikTok, fentanyl or trade, Beijing might welcome a compromise to buy time to address its ailing economy and bolster its position globally.

In China, Apple’s second largest market, iPhone sales fell 18% in the December ending quarter, according to Bloomberg.

BANGKOK — World shares were mixed on Thursday after China rolled out more moves to try to boost its lagging stock markets by raising confidence that prices will rise. Germany’s DAX gained 0.2% to 21,300 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% higher to 7,847.38. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped less than 0.1% to 8,539.88.