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Markets rose Wednesday on growing hopes of US interest rate cuts after soft inflation data, with Japan’s Nikkei hitting a second record high in as many days.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh highs Tuesday after US data showed a tamer-than-feared impact on prices from President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.That boosted hopes among that the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chief Jerome Powell will cut interest rates next month.”Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell must NOW lower the rate,” Trump said on Truth Social, while also threatening a “major lawsuit” over renovations to Fed buildings.The US consumer price index reading for July showed annualised inflation at 2.7 percent, unchanged from a month earlier.Investors calculated that the benign data was not enough to sway the Fed away from an expected interest rate cut next month.”Stocks… took the (inflation) number as confirmation that September is shaping up to be the long-anticipated ‘insurance cut’ in an economy still treading water above the break-even line,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: “This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for.”Tokyo climbed 1.3 percent to a record high and Hong Kong rose 2.6 percent while Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta also saw healthy gains.Europe followed suit, with London, Frankfurt and Paris all higher in early trade.Oil prices edged lower after OPEC raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year.Investor focus was also on a summit in Alaska on Friday between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the three-year-old Ukraine war.In corporate news, AI firm Perplexity offered Google $34.5 billion for its Chrome web browser, which it may have to sell as part of antitrust proceedings.Intel rose 5.5 percent on Wall Street after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who praised the executive after previously calling for him to step down.- Key figures at around 0820 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 43,274.67 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.6 percent at 25,613.67 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,683.46 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,172.20 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1718 from $1.1677 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3561 from $1.3501Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.39 yen from  147.77 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.41 pence from 86.45 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $65.92 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $62.90 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 44,458.61 (close)

An Australian court has found Apple and Google misused their market power in a dispute with the maker of wildly popular video game Fortnite.Both Apple and Google kicked Fortnite off their respective app platforms in 2020, after the game designed an in-app payments system that cut the tech giants out of the loop.Developer Epic Games retaliated by launching legal action against the tech giants in a string of courtrooms around the world.Australia’s Federal Court this week found the tech firms’ app-store dominance reduced competition, likely forcing game developers to pay higher commission fees.”This is a WIN for developers and consumers in Australia!” Epic Games said in a statement Tuesday.Justice Jonathan Beach however rejected Epic Games’ claims that Apple and Google engaged in unconscionable conduct.A Google spokesperson said the company disagreed with some of the court’s findings and would “review the full decision when we receive it and assess our next steps”.Australian lawyers have lodged a class action suit seeking compensation from Apple and Google on behalf of game users and developers.”The judgement is a turning point,” said Kimi Nishimura from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. “It sends a clear message that even the most powerful corporations must play by the rules and respect the rights of consumers and developers alike.”Fortnite is one of the most popular video games in the world, laying claim to hundreds of millions of registered players.

Japan’s Nikkei hit a second record high in as many days Wednesday, as hopes of US interest rate cuts following soft inflation data cheered equity investors across Asia.The S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh highs Tuesday after US data showed a tamer-than-feared impact on prices from President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz.That boosted hopes among some investors that the US Federal Reserve and its embattled chief Jerome Powell will cut interest rates next month.”Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell must NOW lower the rate,” Trump said on Truth Social, while also threatening a “major lawsuit” over renovations to Fed buildings.”Stocks… took the (inflation) number as confirmation that September is shaping up to be the long-anticipated ‘insurance cut’ in an economy still treading water above the break-even line,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: “This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for.”Early afternoon, the Nikkei 225 index was at 43,359.03, up 1.5 percent, having already hit a new intraday record high of 42,999.71 the previous day.Oil prices edged lower after OPEC raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year.Investor focus was also on a summit in Alaska on Friday between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the three-year-old Ukraine war.In corporate news, AI firm Perplexity offered Google $34.5 billion for its Chrome web browser, which it may have to sell as part of antitrust proceedings.Intel rose 5.5 percent on Wall Street after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who praised the executive after previously calling for him to step down.- Key figures at around 0300 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 43,359.03Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 25,234.90Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,683.79Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1684 from $1.1677 on TuesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3505 from $1.3501Dollar/yen: UP at 148.04 yen from  147.77 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.52 pence from 86.45 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $66.01 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $63.02 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 44,458.61 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,147.81 (close)

Global stocks mostly rose on Tuesday, with Wall Street indices ending at fresh records as US inflation data showed a still-subdued impact from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.That, combined with Trump extending by 90 days a trade truce with China, cheered investors.New York jumped after the US consumer price index (CPI) reading for July showed annualized inflation at 2.7 percent, unchanged from a month earlier.Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at fresh records.European markets were likewise boosted by the US inflation numbers, with all but Frankfurt rising.While the headline CPI figure was lower than expected, underlying price increases indicated that Trump’s tariffs were nevertheless starting to ripple through the US economy.Core inflation, which strips out volatile costs such as food and energy, accelerated in July to the fastest pace in six months.”Inflation from tariffs is beginning to feed into the core figure but not yet at the stage that is a major concern for markets,” said Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter, a wealth management firm.The dollar slipped against major currencies.Investors calculated that the CPI data was not enough to sway the US Federal Reserve away from an expected interest rate cut next month.The US central bank, which has an inflation target of two percent, also has to weigh other recent data, including signs in the labor market of slower economic growth.Trump has relentlessly pressured Jerome Powell to ease monetary policy, reiterating his call for the Fed Chairman to cut rates immediately in a sneering post on his Truth Social platform.Trump said he may allow “a major lawsuit” against Powell for his oversight of renovations of Federal Reserve buildings.Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: “This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for.”Oil prices were lower, after OPEC’s latest growth projections maintained estimates for 2025. The oil cartel raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year.Trump’s announcement on Monday that he would put off reimposing sky-high levies on China to November, to give more time for talks, buoyed market sentiment.Stock markets in Asia rose on the news, with Tokyo hitting a record.Investors are also awaiting a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, with the US president playing down the possibility of a breakthrough in ending the war in Ukraine.In corporate news, China’s real estate giant Evergrande Group said on Tuesday it will delist from Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the wake of its 2021 default. The company is emblematic of a years-long crisis in China’s property market.Intel rose 5.5 percent after CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump, who praised the executive after previously calling for him to step down.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.1 percent at 44,458.61 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 1.1 percent at 6,445.76 (close)New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.4 percent at 21,681.90 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,147.81 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 7,753.42 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 24,024.78 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 42,718.17 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 24,969.68 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,665.92 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1677 from $1.1615 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3501 from $1.3432 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.77 yen from 148.15 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.45 pence from 86.48 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $66.12 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent at $63.17 per barrel

South Korean cryptocurrency specialist Do Kwon pleaded guilty to fraud charges in front of a New York judge on Tuesday following his firm’s multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy, court filings showed.Do Kwon, who founded Terraform and nurtured two cryptocurrencies central to the bankruptcy, had faced nine counts in a superseding indictment filed by prosecutors in January 2025 to which he initially pleaded not guilty.The fallen mogul changed his plea in a hearing before Southern District of New York judge Paul Engelmayer, and will be sentenced on December 11, the docket showed.He was extradited last year from Montenegro to the United States for his role in a fraud linked to his company’s failure, which wiped out about $40 billion of investors’ money and shook global crypto markets.The crypto tycoon was arrested in March 2023 at the airport in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, while preparing to board a flight to Dubai, in possession of a fake Costa Rican passport.Before his arrest in the tiny Balkan nation, he had been on the run for months, fleeing South Korea and later Singapore, when his company went bankrupt in 2022.Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs created a cryptocurrency called TerraUSD that was marketed as a “stablecoin”, a token that is pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar to prevent drastic fluctuations.Do Kwon successfully marketed them as the next big thing in crypto, attracting billions in investments and global hype.Media reports in South Korea described him as a “genius”.But despite billions in investments, TerraUSD and its sister token Luna went into a death spiral in May 2022.Experts said Kwon had set up a glorified pyramid scheme, in which many investors lost their life savings.He left South Korea before the crash and spent months on the run.Cryptocurrencies have come under increasing scrutiny from regulators after a string of controversies in recent years, including the high-profile collapses of exchanges.

Stock markets rose on Tuesday as US inflation data showed a still-subdued impact from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.That, combined with Trump extending by 90 days a trade truce with China, cheered investors.New York jumped after the US consumer price index (CPI) reading for July showed annualised inflation at 2.7 percent, unchanged from a month earlier.European markets were likewise boosted by the US inflation numbers, with all but Frankfurt rising.While the headline CPI figure was lower than expected, underlying price increases indicated that Trump’s tariffs were nevertheless starting to ripple through the US economy.Core inflation, which strips out volatile costs such as food and energy, accelerated in July to the fastest pace in six months.”Inflation from tariffs is beginning to feed into the core figure but not yet at the stage that is a major concern for markets,” said Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter, a wealth management firm.The dollar slipped against major currencies.Investors calculated that the CPI data was not enough to sway the US Federal Reserve away from an expected interest rate cut next month.The US central bank, which has an inflation target of two percent, also has to weigh other recent data, including signs in the labour market of slower economic growth.Trump has been pressuring Fed chief Jerome Powell to cut rates, and on Monday he renewed his attack.The US leader accused Powell of causing “incalculable” damage by keeping interest rates steady. Trump said he may allow “a major lawsuit” against Powell for his oversight of renovations of Federal Reserve buildings.Katy Stoves, investment manager at Mattioli Woods, warned however: “This gentle cooling of the economy will certainly not justify a cut of interest rates to one percent as President Donald Trump is calling for.”Oil prices were lower, after OPEC’s latest growth projections maintained estimates for 2025. The oil cartel raised its demand forecast for 2026, signalling it expected stronger global activity next year.Trump’s announcement on Monday that he would put off reimposing sky-high levies on China to November, to give more time for talks, buoyed market sentiment.Stock markets in Asia rose on the news, with Tokyo hitting a record.Investors are also awaiting a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, with the US president playing down the possibility of a breakthrough in ending the war in Ukraine.In corporate news, China’s real estate giant Evergrande Group said on Tuesday it will delist from Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the wake of its 2021 default. The company is emblematic of a years-long crisis in China’s property market.- Key figures at around 1530 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 1.0 percent at 44,412.68 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 6,420.90New York – Nasdaq: UP 0.8 percent at 21,556.82London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,149.28 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.8 percent at 7,757.59 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 24,050.12 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 42,718.17 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 24,968.68 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,665.92 (close)Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1680 from $1.1617 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3507 from $1.3435 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.88 yen from 148.12 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.44 pence from 86.47 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $66.57 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.3 percent at $63.75 per barrel

Embattled property giant China Evergrande Group said Tuesday it will delist from Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a heavier-than-expected debt burden weighed on its liquidation process.The Hong Kong bourse’s listing committee decided to cancel Evergrande’s listing as it had failed to meet a July deadline to resume trading, according to an exchange filing.Once China’s biggest real estate firm, Evergrande was worth more than $50 billion at its peak and helped propel the country’s rapid economic growth in recent decades.But it defaulted in 2021 and became emblematic of the years-long crisis in the country’s property market.A Hong Kong court issued a winding-up order for Evergrande in January 2024, ruling that the company had failed to come up with a debt repayment plan that suited its creditors.Evergrande’s shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange were suspended that month.Liquidators have made moves to recover creditors’ investments, including filing a lawsuit against PwC and its mainland Chinese arm for their role in auditing the debt-ridden developer.Evergrande’s share listing will be cancelled on August 25, according to Tuesday’s filing, which was attributed to liquidators Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong.Middleton and Wong said in an attached progress report that Evergrande’s debt load was bigger than the previously estimated $27.5 billion.”As at 31 July 2025, this claims’ discovery exercise had resulted in 187 proofs of debt being submitted, by which claims of approximately HK$350 billion (US$45 billion) in aggregate have been made,” the document read.This figure was not to be taken as final, Middleton and Wong added.”The liquidators believe that a holistic restructuring will prove out of reach” at this stage, the duo wrote.China Evergrande Group was a holding company and the liquidators said they had assumed control of more than 100 companies within the group.They said in the report that they were not able to “estimate the amounts that may ultimately be realised from these entities”.The property behemoth’s market value was only around $274 million when share trading was suspended, and its founder Xu Jiayin owned a roughly 60 percent stake at the time, Bloomberg News reported.”Whether or not there’s a delisting, Evergrande’s shareholders will likely have to prepare for near-total loss,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kristy Hung told the news outlet before the delisting was announced.”The developer’s liquidation and substantial claims from creditors who are ahead in the order suggests equity holders face material risk of getting nothing,” Hung said.

Labourer Shuai Hang went a week without work earlier this year when sky-high US tariffs on Chinese goods overwhelmed the warehouse he works at and slowed the company’s US-bound parcels to a trickle.But on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump announced a truce on those duties would be extended, the depot in southern China’s manufacturing hub Guangzhou was alive with noise as workers stuffed trucks with packages of clothes and kitchenware.Many are destined for the doorsteps of US customers of Chinese-founded online shopping giant Temu.”Tariffs impact our daily lives,” said 31-year-old Shuai, whose monthly pay of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,400) had dropped by a third previously.”If tariffs are slightly lower, then there are more outgoing shipments, and then we have higher wages,” he said.Trump’s tariff policies since taking office have upended global trade and set off a blistering tit-for-tat with Beijing — but in May the two major economies agreed to a fragile truce, with each temporarily lowering levies on the other’s goods.That agreement was extended to November by Trump on Monday, hours before it expired.At the height of the tariffs, said Shuai, who has been loading parcels for Guangzhou-based logistics company Weijiang International for a year, “there was not a single truck” for him to fill, so he couldn’t work.Overall deliveries dropped by about 20 percent in May, according to Weijiang’s founder Xiong Wei, with the US market making up around a quarter of their cross-border business.But business has recovered since July, he said.Xiong said he hadn’t lost sleep over the looming expiration of the 90-day tariff truce this week, as he had expected it would be renewed.”We might have been worried in May, but now we are indifferent,” said Xiong. “We are used to it”.- ‘Cards reshuffled’ -These days the warehouse is sending out 100 tonnes of packages every 24 hours, with up to 70 trucks making trips.On Tuesday industrial fans whirred as sweat-slicked workers methodically scanned yellow, black and sage green bundles into lorries.Xiong’s company has recently invested in its own warehouse in Chicago. In many ways the uncertainty provided opportunity for smaller logistics companies like theirs, said manager Chen Weiyan, as they have taken the chance to expand their market. “The cards have been reshuffled,” he said. Around 30 percent of the parcels moved by Weijiang International end up in a different warehouse, this one owned by Temu-parent PDD, where they are unloaded, repacked and readied for a flight across the ocean.While the truce is welcome, Shuai, who packs three to four tonnes in a truck daily, said he still pays close attention to tariff news.”For those of us who have travelled over 1,000 kilometres to work here, we definitely don’t want frequent breaks. We all want to earn more money,” said the native of neighbouring Guizhou province.Working at the warehouse was less tiring than labouring at a construction site, and earning money had become more difficult in the past two years, he said.Chen, the manager, was bullish. “We will not give up this market,” he said. “Folks in America need our goods”.

Stock markets rose Tuesday, with Tokyo hitting a record, as investors welcomed the extension of a China-US tariff truce and awaited key US inflation data.US President Donald Trump’s widely expected trade announcement avoids the reimposition of sky-high levies and allows officials from Washington and Beijing to continue talking into November to settle their standoff.Stock markets benefitted from easing fears of an all-out trade war between the world’s two largest economies, analysts said.”Although an agreement is yet to be agreed, the can has been kicked down the road and that is enough to maintain the market mood,” noted Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group. Asian equities rallied, with Tokyo’s export-heavy stock index reaching an all-time peak.London and Paris stocks also gained while Frankfurt fell nearing the half-way stage.The pound held its ground after data showed the UK’s unemployment rate remained at a four-year high in the three months to the end of June.Traders awaited the latest US consumer price index (CPI) reading due Tuesday, which could play a major role in the Federal Reserve’s next decision on interest rates.Bets on a cut have ramped up in recent weeks owing to signs that the world’s number one economy is showing signs of slowing, with figures indicating that the labour market softened considerably in the past three months.But inflation is expected to have slightly accelerated in July and analysts warned that a forecast-topping figure could dent hopes of a rate cut.Trump has pressed the independent Fed to slash rates and repeatedly lambasted its chairman, Jerome Powell, over its decisions to keep them unchanged.Investors are also awaiting a summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, with the US president playing down the possibility of a breakthrough in ending the war in Ukraine.In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stocks index briefly soared almost three percent to hit a record high of 42,999.71 points on renewed optimism over the Japanese economy after officials reached a deal to avert the worst of Trump’s tariffs.With many of the president’s tariffs set and talks with various trading partners ongoing, markets turned their focus towards the possible economic impact of Trump’s trade war.IwaiCosmo Securities said in a market commentary that “easing tensions over US-China trade talks, as well as speculation about the US’s imminent lowering of (interest) rates” had helped boost investors’ hopes about the recovery of Japanese companies.The gains came as traders returned after a long weekend.Sydney was also given a lift by news that the Australian central bank had cut interest rates.- Key figures at around 1030 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,145.76 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 7,707.11Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.5 percent at 23,971.50Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 42,718.17 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.3 percent at 24,968.68 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.5 percent at 3,665.92 (close)New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 43,975.09 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1610 from $1.1617 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3459 from $1.3435 Dollar/yen: UP at 148.43 yen from 148.12 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 86.28 pence from 86.47 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $66.89 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $64.16 per barrel

China and the United States delayed higher tariffs on each other’s imports for 90 days, hours before a trade truce between the world’s two largest economies was due to expire Tuesday.US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that will “extend the Tariff Suspension on China for another 90 days,” according to a post on his Truth Social platform.The White House said its halt on steeper tariffs will be in place until November 10. China also said it would continue suspending its earlier tariff hike for 90 days, starting August 12, while retaining a 10-percent duty, according to a joint statement.While the United States and China slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products this year, bringing them to prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling trade, both countries in May agreed to temporarily lower them.As part of their truce that month, fresh US tariffs targeting China were reduced to 30 percent and the corresponding level from China was cut to 10 percent. Those rates will now hold until November — or whenever a deal is cut before then.In the executive order posted Monday to its website, the White House reiterated its position that there are “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits” and they “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the United States.” The order acknowledged Washington’s ongoing discussions with Beijing “to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationship” and noted that China has continued to “take significant steps toward remedying” the US complaints.Beijing, meanwhile, said it would “take or maintain necessary measures to suspend or remove non-tariff countermeasures against the United States,” as agreed in Geneva in May.- Trump-Xi summit? -In Shanghai, China’s commercial capital, residents welcomed the extended trade truce on Tuesday.”I feel that negotiations will definitely steer the two countries toward a better direction,” said Zhang Xuan, a 25-year-old postgraduate student.Lin Peng, a commercial property leasing agent, told AFP he felt there would be more negotiations between the two nations as Trump is a “businessman” and an escalated trade war would “hurt his own interests too.””Beijing will be happy to keep the US-China negotiation going, but it is unlikely to make concessions,” warned William Yang, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.He believes China sees its leverage over rare earth exports as strong, and that Beijing will likely use it to pressure Washington.US-China Business Council president Sean Stein said the extension was “critical to give the two governments time to negotiate an agreement,” providing much-needed certainty for companies to make plans.Since Trump took office in January, China’s tariffs have essentially boomeranged, from the initially modest 10 percent hike in February, followed by repeated surges as Beijing and Washington clashed, until it hit a high of 145 percent in April.Now the tariff has been pulled back to 30 percent, a negotiated truce rate.A trade deal would “pave the way for a Trump-Xi summit this fall,” said Asia Society Policy Institute senior vice president Wendy Cutler.But Cutler, herself a former US trade official, said: “This will be far from a walk in the park.”Even as both countries reached a pact to cool tensions after high level talks in Geneva in May, the de-escalation has been shaky.Key economic officials convened in London in June as disagreements emerged and US officials accused their counterparts of violating the pact. Policymakers met again in Stockholm last month.- ‘Reciprocal’ tariffs – Trump said in a social media post Sunday that he hoped China will “quickly quadruple its soybean orders,” adding this would be a way to balance trade with the United States.China’s exports reached record highs in 2024, and Beijing reported that their exports exceeded expectations in June, climbing 5.8 percent year-on-year, as the world’s number-two economy works to sustain growth.Since returning to the presidency, Trump has separately slapped a 10 percent “reciprocal” tariff on almost all trading partners, aimed at addressing trade practices Washington has deemed unfair.This surged to varying steeper levels last Thursday for dozens of economies.Major partners like the European Union, Japan and South Korea now see a 15 percent US duty on many products, while the level went as high as 41 percent for Syria.The “reciprocal” tariffs exclude sectors that have been targeted individually, such as steel and aluminum, and those that are being investigated like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.