Central bank shuns calls to reduce borrowing costs as higher US tariffs loom
The European Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold as figures showed the eurozone economy maintaining a slow pace of economic growth.
In what was widely expected to be a pause before further cuts later in the year, the Frankfurt-based central bank shunned calls to reduce the cost of borrowing and held its main interest rate at 2% and the deposit rate at 2.15%.
Continue reading...Tokyo’s failure to secure a US deal sooner had caused political unease and economic uncertainty in Japan
Donald Trump has announced a trade deal with Japan, potentially resolving weeks of fraught negotiations between the two allies which had caused economic uncertainty in Tokyo and mounting speculation about the future of the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.
“We just completed a massive deal with Japan,” the US president announced in a post online, adding: “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 billion dollars into the United States.”
Continue reading...US president talks of low tariff to give pharmaceutical firms a year or so to build, and then making it ‘very high’
Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical products and semiconductors as soon as 1 August, the latest deadline for the introduction of his “reciprocal” levies on individual countries.
The US president told reporters late on Tuesday the taxes on drug imports could be announced “probably at the end of the month, and we’re going to start off with a low tariff and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to build, and then we’re going to make it a very high tariff”.
Continue reading...Rate is significantly below the 32% the US president had threatened but timeline for implementation of deal remains unclear
US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in significant purchase commitments from the south-east Asian country, after negotiations to avoid steeper tariffs.
Indonesian goods entering the United States would face a 19% tariff, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. This is significantly below the 32% level the president earlier threatened.
Continue reading...French president says bloc should be ready for trade war after 30% tariff threat but other EU leaders call for calm
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to “defend European interests resolutely” after Donald Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on nearly all imports from the EU.
It came as the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt move by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared a further pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs until 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.
Continue reading...US exports account for third of Vietnam’s GDP and 40% tariff on so-called transshipments – products with Chinese input – means uncertainty for manufacturers
As news spread that Vietnam would become just the second nation to reach an initial tariff agreement with Washington, shares in the clothing companies and manufacturers that have a large footprint in the country rose with optimism.
Just hours later though, they declined sharply, as it became clear that the devil would be in the detail, and the most striking part of the deal might in fact be aimed at Vietnam’s powerful neighbour China.
Continue reading...Letters to be sent to countries without a deal in place before end of 90-day pause on 9 July
Donald Trump has said the US will start sending letters to trading partners setting out tariff rates that countries will have to pay from the beginning of next month.
The US president told the media that about “10 or 12” letters would be sent out on Friday, with further letters sent out over the “next few days”.
Continue reading...Stefan Scherer, boss of AMG Lithium, says Europe must become more self-sufficient in critical raw materials and new technologies
The EU may as well “apply to be a province of China” such is its inability to wean itself off that country’s supply of critical raw materials used in everything from electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines, a leading German industrialist has said.
As chief executive of AMG Lithium, the EU’s first factory to make the lithium hydroxide used in many car batteries, Stefan Scherer sits at the centre of what has been dubbed a new gold rush.
Continue reading...Trump officials hail U-turn as Mark Carney says decision to rescind digital services tax means revival of trade talks
The United States has said that Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney “caved” to demands from the White House after his government abruptly scrapped their digital services tax on US technology companies, which was set to go into effect on Monday.
“It’s very simple. Prime minister Carney and Canada caved to president [Donald] Trump and the United States of America,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a daily briefing.
Continue reading...European pharmaceutical body says it would be ‘negative for both sides’ if Brussels hits back on threatened US levies
The European pharmaceutical industry has urged Brussels not to retaliate if Donald Trump brings in threatened tariffs on imported drugs, amid fears he could impose the levies as early as next week.
The US president said last week that the sector-specific tariffs were coming “very soon”. There is concern in Brussels that he could impose them imminently to give himself further leverage ahead of his self-imposed 9 July deadline for trade deals with the EU and about 60 countries.
Continue reading...US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick quoted as saying US countermeasures will be removed once US receives rare earths
The United States has reached an agreement with China on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the US, a White House official has said, amid efforts to end a trade war between the world’s biggest economies.
President Donald Trump said earlier on Thursday that the US had signed a deal with China the previous day, without providing additional details, and that there might be a separate deal coming up that would “open up” India.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sources say US wants information on when importing of raw materials from abroad at Port Talbot site will stop
Donald Trump is threatening to keep 25% tariffs on some or all of its steel imports from the UK unless it gives specific guarantees over the Indian-owned steelmaking plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, sources have told the Guardian.
An agreement to reduce tariffs on UK car exports to the US and scrap them for the aerospace sector was signed off by the US president and Keir Starmer on Monday, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.
Continue reading...Draft agreement may reassure top US military suppliers after president’s tariffs flip-flopping threatened production
The draft trade agreement with China announced by Donald Trump on Wednesday would ease concerns from top US military suppliers about rare-earth metals and magnets that, if cut off permanently, could hobble production of everything from smart bombs to fighter jets to submarines and other weapons in the US arsenal.
While the deal has not yet been finalised, it may reassure major defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, the largest US user of samarium – a rare-earth metal used in military-grade magnets – whose supply is entirely controlled by China.
Continue reading...US commerce secretary expresses optimism that deal will resolve concerns about rare earths and magnets
The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war after two days of talks in London that resulted in a “framework” deal over export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors.
Negotiations to resolve the wider tariff war triggered by Donald Trump in April will continue but the truce settles, for now, growing tension between the two economic super-powers.
Continue reading...Grocers turning to Australia, Poland and Uruguay for meat, prompting claim they are undermining British farmers
Cheap chicken and beef from Australia, Poland and Uruguay is on the rise on UK supermarket shelves, according to the National Farmers’ Union, as supermarkets look for money-saving options.
The NFU regularly monitors supermarket shelves and notes that Morrisons is now selling raw chicken from Poland in its poultry aisle. Chicken in Poland is generally produced to different standards from those in the UK, and is cheaper as a result. Morrisons requires that for its UK chicken, poultry must be kept at a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2, giving the chickens more space to roam. In Poland, this is up to 39kg/m2.
Continue reading...President, who had Thursday call with China’s Xi Jinping amid tariff dispute, says ‘meeting should go very well’
Senior US administration officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, Donald Trump said on Friday.
The meeting comes after a phone call between Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday, which the US president described as a “very positive” conversation as the two countries attempt to break an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals.
Continue reading...Dairy is the country’s largest export industry, but recent figures from Stats NZ show domestic butter prices have surged 65% and people are getting desperate
New Zealanders are driving cross-country for hours in pursuit of cheap butter while some are ordering it from Australia or even churning their own cream, as the country battles sky-high dairy prices.
Despite dairy being the country’s largest export industry, recent figures from Stats NZ show domestic butter prices surged 65% in the year to March, pushing the average price for 500g to $7.42 (£3.30) – that’s up about $3 from this time last year.
Continue reading...Morocco’s commercial centre has brought investment to the continent – but critics say it masks domestic inequality
For centuries, Casablanca was a significant trading hub for merchants from across the breadth of the Atlantic coast, given its geographical position between Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
These days, Morocco’s economic capital is merging those historical roots with a strong modern commercial identity. One such manifestation is the Casablanca Finance City (CFC) district, whose high-rise buildings stand as a symbol of the city’s dream of being a main gateway for international investment into Africa.
Continue reading...Prime minister also reaffirms policy on Taiwan while hitting back at Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports
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Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium.
On Saturday US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.
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Continue reading...Wall Street up in early trading after US president commends bloc for calling to ‘quickly establish meeting dates’
Donald Trump has indicated there has been progress in US trade talks with the EU, helping send share prices rising on Wall Street, after he commended the bloc for calling to “quickly establish meeting dates”.
“I have just been informed that the EU has called to quickly establish meeting dates. This is a positive event, and I hope that they will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, saying the EU would be “very happy and successful” if it agreed a deal.
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