NEW YORK -- Global stocks were range-bound on Tuesday while the yuan advanced against the dollar after Washington said it no longer considered China a currency manipulator and tensions eased between the economic titans.
New York was also rattled by news reports on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump intended to keep most punitive US tariffs on Chinese imports until after the 2020 presidential election.
US stocks finished lower, pulling back from Monday's records, while London rose and Europe edged downward.
The US Treasury announcement on the Chinese currency late Monday came as the two countries prepare to sign the first part of a wider trade agreement that has helped fan a rally in world equity markets.
Washington's decision triggered a sell-off in haven assets, including the yen and gold.
In August, Trump accused Beijing of weakening its currency "to steal our business and factories," re-stating a long-standing grievance.
The dollar slumped to 6.8670 yuan at one point, the lowest level since July, before rebounding somewhat.
"The yuan is the purest and best barometer to gauge the market's view on US-China trade tension," said AxiTrader's Stephen Innes.
"With the yuan strengthening ahead of the 'phase one' deal signing, it's indicating the potential for further improvement in trade relations."
The US reversal of China's status as a manipulator "is a most precise and definitive de-escalation of trade tension to date and provides a less congested road as we pivot to phase two of the broader trade agreement," Innes added.
Still, equity markets were a bit edgy ahead of Wednesday's expected signing of the US-China agreement.
Some investors have been expecting a pullback following the surge in recent weeks that have left the market in what analysts have called an "overbought" condition.
Earlier, Tokyo's main stocks index rose 0.7 percent as the dollar advanced against the yen owing to a rush out of safety -- giving a boost to Japan's exporters.
However, profit-taking saw Hong Kong drop 0.2 percent and Shanghai slip 0.3 percent following recent advances.
KEY FIGURES AT 2145 GMT (5:45 a.m. in Manila)
New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 28,939.67 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,283.15 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.2 percent at 9.251.33 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 7,622.35 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX 30: FLAT at 13,456.49 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 6,040.89 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,774.88 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 24,025.17 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.2 percent at 28,885.14 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,106.82 (close)
Dollar/yuan: DOWN at 6.8836 yuan from 6.8938 yuan
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3019 from $1.2989
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.46 pence from 85.72 pence
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1126 from $1.1134
Dollar/yen: UP at 109.98 yen from 109.95
Brent Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $64.49 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $58.23 per barrel
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON — The trade truce with China set to be signed on Wednesday does not include a deal to roll back tariffs imposed on most Chinese goods, US officials said in a statement Tuesday.
The joint statement from the Treasury and the US Trade Representative's office said "there is no agreement for future reduction in tariffs. Any rumors to the contrary are categorically false."
The statement came after a Bloomberg report said tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese goods will stay in place until after the US presidential election in November, after which they might be removed.
After nearly 2 years of conflict and the exchange of punishing tariffs that have had a negative impact on business investment and global economic growth, President Donald Trump last month announced a "phase one" trade deal with Beijing.
As part of the deal he agreed to cancel a new tranche of painful import duties on consumer goods that had been scheduled to hit on December 15.
In addition the US agreed to slash in half the 15 percent tariffs on $120 billion imposed September 1 on consumer goods like clothing.
Officials have said the details of the trade pact will be made public Wednesday.
However, "There are no other oral or written agreements between the United States and China on these matters," the USTR and Treasury said.
Agence France-Presse
NEW YORK - Wall Street on Monday set records for a third straight day as investors absorbed a new US-China trade deal and Beijing released upbeat economic data.
US and Chinese officials on Friday announced a partial trade deal, with Washington cancelling and reducing tariffs in exchange for Chinese pledges to increase purchases of US exports and reform its trade practices.
All three main US stock indexes finished at records, joining the upward drift in Europe where Paris, London and Frankfurt all posted strong gains.
Chris Low of FTN Financial told AFP the markets' jubilance may not be entirely justified.
"The best you can say is that it eliminates some of the negative scenarios people were worried about," he said.
"I think the market is rallying simply because the worst case scenario of US-China trade plummeting is off the table."
Officials in Beijing released data showing China had had a better-than-expected pickup in the retail and industrial sectors in November, a spot of good news at the close of a difficult year for the world's second-largest economy.
London's FTSE 100 which benefitted from continued post-election optimism and a dip in the value of the pound.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index climbed 0.9 percent to close just shy of a record high.
And the Paris CAC 40 won 1.2 percent, briefly breaching the 6,000 points level for the first time in 12 years.
The eurozone's economy meanwhile remained at a near standstill in December, extending the worst quarterly performance since 2013, according to a closely-watched survey compiled by IHS Markit research group.
While the removal of uncertainty surrounding Brexit -- following the Conservatives' commanding victory in last week's British elections -- allowed markets to breathe a huge sigh of relief, analysts urged caution with the saga having some way to run.
"This is just the end of the beginning," noted Quentin Fitzsimmons at T. Rowe Price.
"The real work of negotiating the UK's future trading relationship with the EU lies ahead and that has the potential to become very complicated."
- Key figures around 2300 GMT -
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 28,235.89 (close)
New York - S&P 500: UP 0.7 percent at 3,191.45 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.9 percent at 8,814.23 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 2.3 percent at 7,5519.05 points (close)
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.9 percent at 13,407.66 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 percent at 5,991.66 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.1 percent at 3,772.74 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.3 percent at 23,952.35 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.7 percent at 27,508.09 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 2,984.39 (close)
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3286 from $1.3331 at 2200 GMT on Friday
Euro/pound: UP at 83.82 pence from 83.42 pence
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1139 from $1.1121
Dollar/yen: UP at 109.60 yen from 109.38 yen
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.2 percent at $65.34 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $60.21 per barrel
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LONDON - Global equities mostly retreated Tuesday after US President Donald Trump warned there was no deadline for doing a trade deal with China.
Trade uncertainty also returned to the fore as the United States reimposed tariffs on Argentina and Brazil, threatened steep levies against France -- and warned China of possible new measures if ongoing talks fall through.
Trump, in Britain for a NATO summit to be held in Watford north of London, warned that efforts to resolve a trade dispute could wait until after next November's US election.
"I have no deadline," Trump told reporters upon his arrival.
"In some ways I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal."
Trump's trade war with China and on-again off-again attempts to reach a deal have destabilized markets and stoked geopolitical tensions.
"Equity markets in Europe and US futures were hit as Donald Trump upped the ante again on trade," noted Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.
"The chances of a (China) deal by December 15 just took another turn lower.
"After weeks of making generally positive noises on a deal being very close, there is a real sense now that a deal is not so very near at all and markets need to reprice," Wilson added.
As late as last week Trump boasted he was in the "final throes" of negotiating "one of the most important deals in trade ever".
But Washington has since courted Chinese anger by expressing support for Hong Kong protesters, calling progress into doubt.
Optimism that Beijing and Washington will eventually hammer out a partial agreement as part of a wider deal has supported equities for weeks, helping Wall Street to set numerous records.
But investor sentiment was dealt a blow on Monday when Donald Trump said he would reinstate steel and aluminum tariffs on the two South American countries, which he accused of manipulating their currencies and hurting US farmers.
Later, officials warned they would also hit France with up to 100 percent levies on $2.4 billion in goods, saying a French digital tax was discriminatory against US tech firms such as Google, Apple and Amazon.
Sparkling wine, yogurt and Roquefort cheese could be affected as soon as next month, while US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer warned his office was also considering similar moves against Austria, Italy, and Turkey.
On Tuesday, France vowed a "strong" response to any tariffs.
Uncertainty over trade, combined with a disappointing US manufacturing report, sent all three main indices on Wall Street tumbling Monday.
On Tuesday, London equities slid also as mining companies retreated on worries over demand from Asian powerhouse China, which is a top consumer of many commodities.
Britain's banks also dropped after Moody's ratings agency changed the banking system's overall outlook from stable to negative, citing weak economic growth and "prolonged uncertainty" surrounding Brexit.
In commodities, oil prices extended gains ahead of a key meeting of OPEC and other major producers, which is expected to see them maintain output cuts into June, with speculation they could go on until the end of 2020.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - The United States on Monday threatened to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on $2.4 billion in French goods in retaliation for a digital services tax it says is discriminatory.
French sparkling wine, yogurt and Roquefort cheese are on the list of goods that could be targeted as soon as mid-January after a report from the US Trade Representative's office found the tax penalizes American tech companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.
The decision "sends a clear signal that the United States will take action against digital tax regimes that discriminate or otherwise impose undue burdens on US companies," US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement.
Lighthizer also warned that Washington was considering widening the investigation to look into similar taxes in Austria, Italy, and Turkey.
"The USTR is focused on countering the growing protectionism of EU member states, which unfairly targets US companies, whether through digital services taxes or other efforts that target leading US digital services companies."
The announcement comes hours before President Donald Trump is due to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London on Tuesday.
The French tax, enacted earlier this year, imposes a three percent levy on the revenues earned by technology firms in France, which often come from online advertising and other digital services.
The tax affects companies with least 750 million euros ($830 million) in annual global revenue on their digital activities.
The French tax targets revenue instead of profits, which are often reported by tech giants in low-tax jurisdictions like Ireland in a practice that has enraged governments.
The USTR report "concluded that France's Digital Services Tax (DST) discriminates against US companies, is inconsistent with prevailing principles of international tax policy, and is unusually burdensome for affected US companies."
After the tax was enacted, Trump in July vowed "substantial" retaliation for the French measure.
USTR has scheduled public hearings on the proposal to imposes "duties of up to 100 percent on certain French products," and the possibility of "imposing fees or restrictions on French services."
The last date to submit comments on the proposed actions is January 14, and "USTR expects to proceed expeditiously thereafter."
ROQUEFORT, NOT BORDEAUX
The list of French products subject to potential duties includes cosmetics, porcelain, soap, handbags, butter, and several kinds of cheeses, including Roquefort, Edam and Gruyere.
However, despite Trump's repeated threats to retaliate against French wines, only sparkling wine made the tariff list.
Efforts to find a global solution to the dispute over digital taxes have so far not been successful.
Last month, G20 ministers meeting in Washington opened talks on an international system to tax global tech giants that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development hopes would take effect by June.
Public outrage has grown over the practice of profit shifting, which critics say deprives governments of their fair share of tax revenue.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
RIO DE JANEIRO — US President Donald Trump on Monday announced plans to reimpose tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, hitting back at what he called their "unfair" policies.
The move appeared to surprise his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, who considers himself an ideological ally of the Republican leader. Industry leaders in both countries cried foul.
"Brazil and Argentina have been presiding over a massive devaluation of their currencies," which is hurting American farmers, Trump said on Twitter.
"Effective immediately, I will restore the Tariffs on all Steel & Aluminum that is shipped into the US from those countries."
Trump last year announced global tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum but later approved exemptions for some countries, including Argentina and Brazil -- after they agreed to quotas.
Bolsonaro sought to play down the issue, saying he would appeal to Trump for more understanding of Brazil's position and boasting he has an "open channel" with the US leader if needed.
Later, in a radio interview, Bolsonaro said: "I hope he understands and doesn't penalize us in this matter."
The Brazilian leader added he was confident he would receive a favorable hearing from the US president.
"I am almost convinced that he will hear us," he said.
'PERPLEXING' DECISION
Brazil's Steel Institute said it was perplexed by Trump's decision.
"There is no initiative by the government to artificially devalue the Real and the decision to tax Brazilian steel as a way to compensate American farmers is a retaliation against Brazil, which is inconsistent with the partnership relationship between the 2 countries," it said.
The decision "ends up hurting the American steelmaking industry itself, which needs semi-finished products exported by Brazil in order to operate its mills," the institute added.
Brazil is the second-largest supplier of steel to the US market behind Canada.
And Brazil and Argentina have benefited from the US trade war with China, as they have stepped in to replace American exports of soybeans and other agricultural goods to the Asian giant.
Bolsonaro earlier this month met with China's President Xi Jinping in Brasilia and said the world's second-largest economy was "becoming more and more part of Brazil's future."
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the NATO summit in London, Trump said Brazil had "devalued their currency very substantially by 10 percent."
He said he had given Argentina "a big break" on tariffs, "but now I'm taking that break off. Because it is very unfair to our manufacturers and very unfair to our farmers."
"Our steel companies will be very happy and our farmers will be very happy with what I did," Trump added.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Brazil has teetered on the brink of recession this year and Argentina is again enmeshed in an economic crisis, which has led to the currencies of both countries weakening against the US dollar.
A weaker currency tends to make exports more competitive, while a stronger US dollar makes foreign goods cheaper for American consumers.
But as the global economy slows, the US dollar tends to strengthen as it becomes a safe haven for nervous investors around the world.
Jose Urtubey, spokesman for Argentina's powerful UIA industrial lobby, said producers in the country will be harmed immediately by the tariffs.
With Argentina's "lack of competitiveness" as a producer, the fact that the United States had the lowest steel and aluminum tariffs was "beneficial," Urtubey said.
The head of Argentina's only aluminum producer, Javier Mandanes Quintanilla of the Aluar Group, viewed the tariff plan with trepidation.
"This is a measure that affects us very strongly," he told La Nacion.
The US imported nearly 169,000 tons of steel from Argentina last year, representing more than $220 million in trade.
Bolsonaro's right-wing government has promised to revive Brazil's flagging economy with a massive stimulus plan, as well as pension and tax reforms, and the central bank has cut the key interest rate more than a dozen times since late 2016.
Trump views those moves as an effort to gain at the expense of the United States.
In his tweets, Trump also called on the Federal Reserve to "likewise act" so other nations no longer "take advantage of our strong dollar by further devaluing their currencies."
Amid a slowing global economy and the impact of Trump's wide ranging trade offensive, mostly directed against China, the Fed has cut the benchmark interest rates three times this year.
But it has signaled it will stand back before deciding on any further moves.
Despite widespread complaints about the impact of the tariffs on US businesses and consumers, as well as the hit to farmers who have been the target of retaliation from trading partners, Trump claimed in his tweet on Monday that Washington has taken in "massive amounts of money" from the tariffs.
American steel has continued to suffer, with overall employment edging downward and production halted at blast furnaces last month.
Agence France-Presse
WASHINGTON - US trade negotiators want to make "meaningful progress" in upcoming talks with China, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday, one day after conciliatory gestures by both sides boosted hopes of an eventual resolution.
Mnuchin said on CNBC he is "cautiously optimistic" about chances for a deal to resolve the conflict, but Washington and Beijing will first hold talks at the deputy level to ensure senior officials who meet later can advance towards an agreement.
"We don't want a trip that's just a series of discussions. We want to make meaningful progress," he said.
However, he again warned that President Donald Trump will only accept a good deal, and is willing to raise tariffs if necessary.
There have been positive signs this week in the trade conflict, now entering its second year, as Trump agreed to Beijing's request to delay one round of tariff increases on $250 billion worth of goods for two weeks, until October 15, after China agreed to spare some US products from its retaliation.
China added Thursday that it was "making inquiries" about buying American farm products including big-ticket items like pork and soybeans, not on its previous list of spared goods.
"It is expected that China will be buying large amounts of our agricultural products!" Trump tweeted early Thursday.
American farmers have borne the brunt of the US-China trade spat, especially after US soy exports collapsed last year, virtually wiping out foreign markets farmers had spent years cultivating.
Trump has previously accused Beijing of backsliding on promises to increase purchases of US farm goods and has offered billions in aid to farms badly damaged in the trade war.
'CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC'
Senior US and Chinese officials are due to hold preliminary talks later this month, in preparation for meetings in early October led by Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer.
Mnuchin said "we clearly didn't make the progress we wanted to" at the last meeting in Shanghai in late July, but he added: "I'm cautiously optimistic. I take the Chinese in good faith that they want to come here with a deal now."
But he said Trump "is prepared to keep these tariffs in place. He's prepared to raise tariffs if we need to raise tariffs."
Trump's hardline trade adviser Peter Navarro said on CNN Thursday that the US is focused on addressing "seven acts of economic aggression" by China including "cyber-hacking of our computers to steal our business secrets, intellectual property theft" and "manipulation of the currency."
However Mnuchin said Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement "is definitely not on the table," as "That is an issue for the secretary of state to deal with."
Millions of people have demonstrated over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge to China's rule of the financial hub since its handover from Britain in 1997.
Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned the United States on Tuesday not to "interfere" with her government's response.
'EATING THE TARIFFS'
Reducing America's soaring trade deficit with China has long been a principal aim in Trump's trade battle with Beijing, but so far it has not led to a reduction in the trade imbalance. In 2018, the US goods trade deficit with China was $419.52 billion.
Trump has long viewed deficits as a defeat for the United States, arguing that they amount to stealing -- a position rejected by most economists.
Meanwhile the US president maintains that the protracted trade war is damaging China more than the United States, and China is "eating the tariffs."
The US Treasury has taken in $66 billion in customs duties in the 11 months through August, 73 percent more than in the same period of the prior fiscal year -- tariffs paid by American importers.
Experts have warned there are signs the US is also feeling the pinch, with job creation slowing across major industries last month, and manufacturing seeing a decided slowdown.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING - China plans to provide more support for its economy, including investing in infrastructure projects and regional development, while maintaining a prudent monetary policy with "reasonably" ample liquidity, the State Council said on Sunday.
As the world's second-largest economy weathers its biggest slowdown in decades, the State Council said the government aimed to better integrate fiscal, financial and monetary policies, deepen capital market reforms and further open up the financial sector.
"We attach great importance to the development of infrastructure, high-tech, traditional industrial transformation, social services and new growth regions," the State Council said in a statement following a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Commission (FSDC) chaired by Vice Premier Liu He on Saturday.
China's economy faces pressures from a bruising trade war with the United States. The 2 countries began imposing additional tariffs on each other's goods on Sunday, the latest escalation in the trade dispute, despite signs that talks would resume some time this month.
China's vast manufacturing sector shrank in August for the fourth month in a row, data showed on Saturday, although the services sector picked up for the first time in 5 months.
The State Council said the government would also encourage banks to use more innovative tools to replenish capital through multiple channels, but did not elaborate.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - President Donald Trump's new tariffs on China sent a shockwave through global markets Thursday, pushing Wall Street stocks into the red, sharpening an oil-price rout and pressuring US Treasury yields.
Trump's early-afternoon tweet announcing the tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese goods aborted an equity market rally following the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday to cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.
Major US indices, which has been up more than one percent earlier in the day, did an about-face after Trump's tweet.
At the White House, Trump told reporters he was "not concerned" by the negative reaction among investors, saying he had anticipated it.
The Dow finished 1.1 percent lower at 26,583.42, losing more than 400 points following the tariff announcement.
The news prompted a broad-based selloff but fell especially hard on retailers such as Best Buy, which plunged 10.8 percent, Target, which tumbled 4.4 percent and Macy's, which sank 6.7 percent.
Amazon and Walmart, which are seen as having more clout with suppliers, also declined, but by less than one percent.
"What we are seeing here is a real decline in retail, so we know the decline is definitely related to the China tweet because the next round of tariffs is going to impact the consumer goods more than the previous ones," said Maris Ogg of Tower Bridge Advisors.
In directly hitting consumer goods, the latest tariffs could also crimp US consumer spending going into the holiday shopping season, a strong point in the American and global economy.
US Treasury yields fell sharply after the announcement, a sign of a weakening growth outlook.
The tariff news also prompted a sharp selloff in oil futures, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate tumbling 7.9 percent to $53.95 a barrel, its worst decline in a session since February 2015.
Oil prices were in the red before the tariff announcement due to a stronger dollar. But Trump's latest action raised worries about lower petroleum demand in a weaker economy. The dollar retreated as well.
BREXIT WEIGHS ON OUTLOOK
The tariff announcement quickly changed the market's focus from the Fed's interest rate cut, described as insurance in case of weakening global growth amid uncertainty and trade tensions.
Some analysts had warned that the Fed move could embolden trade hardliners in the Trump administration to continue to push aggressive measures in the China talks.
The Bank of England left its key interest rate unchanged, warning of Brexit risks, and downgraded its growth forecasts for this year and next.
But some analysts said deep uncertainty about the terms on which Britain eventually leaves the EU undermined any attempt at solid forecasting.
"With the UK being three months from potentially exiting the EU without a deal, the BoE's hands were tied and their forecasts borderline useless," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
KEY FIGURES AROUND 4:50 A.M. FRIDAY
New York - Dow: DOWN 1.1 percent at 26,583.42 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.9 percent at 2,953.56 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,111.12 (close)
London - FTSE 100: FLAT at 7,584.87 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.5 percent at 12,253.15 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 5,557.41 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.7 percent at 3,490.03 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.1 percent at 21,540.99 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.8 percent at to 27,565.70 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 2,908.77 (close)
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2140 from $1.2159 at 2100 GMT
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1090 from $1.1076
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 107.40 yen from 108.78
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 7.0% at $60.50 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.9% at $53.95 per barrel
source: news.abs-cbn.com
BEIJING - For public relations officer Rachel Li, paying top dollar for "beautiful" cherries imported from the United States was a no-brainer.
"I heard they are full of iron," said the Guangzhou-based 33-year-old, "eating them makes me feel healthy, luxurious." Or it did, until Beijing imposed sky-high tariffs on US cherries and importers took fright, leaving store shelves bereft and consumers like Li needing a different fruit fix.
Across China's metropolises, the appetite of a burgeoning middle class for expensively fresh US cherries has become a symbolic casualty of China's festering, tit-for-tat trade battle with the United States. A business that grew to nearly $200 million in 2017 from zero in 2000 has now withered to little more than a tenth of its volume peak, customs data shows.
With import tariffs for US cherries set at 50 percent, Beijing has relaxed regulations allowing imports from Central Asia - a region that just happens to be central to President Xi Jinping's epic "Belt and Road" infrastructure project, an intercontinental initiative worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
"It's an opportune time for China to fiddle with the knobs and to do so in a way that builds economic ties and offers a new market for 'Belt and Road' partners," said Even Pay, senior agriculture analyst at Beijing-based advisory firm China Policy.
China's Ministry of Commerce didn't immediately respond to a fax requesting comment.
May was the last month for which figures were available at the time of writing, typically the first big month in China's cherry import season. Supplies from Uzbekistan leaped to nearly half of the May total, Reuters' calculations show, from zero a year earlier, while the US share of the cherry import pie shrank to 38 percent from nearly 80 percent in May 2018 - and a near monopoly in May 2017.
But total cherry imports into China by volume have plummeted because of the collapse of US shipments: 187 tonnes in May 2019, versus 337 tonnes in May 2018 and 1,505 tonnes in May 2017.
Uzbek cherries sell at about 70-80 yuan per kilogram (kg) at retail level, according to four fruit traders, no more than half the 160 yuan ($23.28) per kg that Rachel Li said she happily remembers stumping up for her sweet US cherries.
No matter the price, though, the volumes now being shipped in are so small that Li said she hasn't seen imported cherries for weeks. A search by Reuters for US cherries at a supermarket and smaller groceries in downtown Shanghai on a recent weekday came up empty-handed.
'IMPOSSIBLE TO DEVELOP'
For Victor Wang, the China representative of US Northwest Cherry Growers, it's now a case of trying keep head above water.
Wang said it took 17 years of marketing and government lobbying to help make US cherries some of the most coveted fruits in China - at one stage his suppliers were even exporting more to China than across the border to Canada. But that all changed in 2018, when two rounds of Chinese tariff hikes added 40 percentage points to import charges.
"With such exorbitant costs after the tariff hikes, and impact of a strengthening dollar, it's impossible to develop the market - we are at best maintaining it for now," said Wang.
Making life harder, Wang said, is the fact that the association has also struggled to advertise the US fruit this year. He said many Chinese media and business partners, including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, have declined to provide coverage or to run promotions.
Alibaba confirmed that US cherry promotions were halted but rejected any suggestion that was related to US-China tensions. It said the move was due to "market-related factors", including seasons, holidays and unspecified business opportunities.
"Any speculation tied to the current geopolitical climate is groundless," the retailer said in a statement sent to Reuters.
'BELT AND ROAD' RULES RELAXED
Just as US supplies shriveled, Beijing has relaxed a requirement for cherries from 'Belt and Road' partners Uzbekistan and Turkey to undergo up to 21 days of pre-shipment cold treatment, making exports easier by allowing fumigation as a pest control measure.
That's opened a trade window not lost on businessmen like Zhu Jianfeng, general manager of Zhejiang Fishing E-Commerce Co, who said he has been investing in unspecified projects in Uzbekistan for years and has "very close ties" with the domestic government.
For the first time this year, Zhu's company imported 300 tons of cherries from Uzbekistan, with plans to boost the volume to 5,000-10,000 tons in 2020.
Zhu acknowledged a lack of processing technology in Uzbekistan, saying the cherries are sent by air and have a shelf life of up to five days; US cherries, in contrast, last for up to two weeks when transported by air. Zhu said he planned to help the Uzbek industry upgrade by increasing investment in production lines.
Back in Guangzhou, Rachel Li said she's switched her quest for health and luxury through fruit from cherries to avocados. While market data suggests the produce she's buying is most likely from Peru, Li said she had stopped paying much attention to where the fruit is from.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON/BOSTON - Officials of the US Federal Reserve and International Monetary Fund warned separately on Thursday that global trade tensions and rising tariffs posed an increasing risk to decades of US expansion, as well as to the global economy.
Developments since early May, including a new 25 percent US tariff on Chinese imports and threats of new US levies on Mexico, seemed to mark a turning point in the Trump administration's more-than-year-old battle over trade policy that could undermine business confidence and investment, and eventually feed through to economic performance.
Indeed, tariffs on Mexican imports amount to the US taxing its own products since many items that cross the border are intermediate goods used by American producers, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said in an appearance at Boston College.
The relationship, he said, has allowed companies to expand and hire in the United States while building global market share.
"If you put sand in the gears potentially of that relationship, it is going to bite," said Kaplan, outlining his concern that waning business confidence will have "a chilling effect" on capital investment.
That "may ultimately feed in, if it lasts long enough, to hiring, which in turn you may see later this year into next year in terms of the consumer" pulling back, he said.
Kaplan said he still felt it "too soon" for the Federal Reserve - the US central bank - to lower interest rates because the Trump administration could, just as quickly, reverse course.
In separate remarks in New York, the influential chief of the New York Fed, John Williams, said he was seeing new headwinds from trade tensions that are slowing business investment and adding to uncertainty. But, on rates, he said he and his staff would not start until next week to delve into the data, to figure if the Fed should remain on hold or "adjust" rates, adding he will keep an open mind.
The tariffs on Mexico, for example, are not yet in effect, but due to be imposed on Monday, in a bid by Trump to get the country to curb the passage of thousands of migrants across its border with the United States.
The Trump administration has said the tariffs on China were an effort to create a fairer trading relationship after years in which jobs and technology have migrated to the Asian nation.
The intensifying trade disputes have rocked financial markets over the last few weeks, and analysts at the International Monetary Fund said the direction of US policy did not bode well.
The escalating trade disputes or an abrupt downturn in financial markets could pose substantial "material" risks for the US recovery, the global lender said in a report on the US economy.
The US economy was on track to grow 2.6 percent this year, slightly faster than its 2.3 percent growth forecast from April, the IMF said.
After hitting a record high in April, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index has fallen about 4 percent in the last month as investors fretted that the protracted trade battle and a sagging global economy might depress the US growth outlook.
Bond markets have also reflected concerns the expansion may buckle under the weight of the trade war.
The IMF said it was especially important that the US resolves its trade dispute with China, saying the administration's use of tariffs to pressure the Chinese was "undermining the global trading system."
The IMF raised concerns that the US financial system was increasingly vulnerable to a reversal in easy financial market conditions, saying corporate leverage was historically high and underwriting standards were weakening.
"An abrupt reversal of this accommodative environment, interacting with leveraged corporate balance sheets, could create a significant downdraft to activity, investment, and job creation," the IMF said.
"The financial system appears healthy but medium-term risks to financial stability are rising," the IMF said in the report.
It criticized US regulators for offering "little institutional response to counter these growing risks" and instead, for easing regulatory constraints.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON -- The White House laid out its conditions Wednesday for averting President Donald Trump's threatened trade tariffs on Mexico, as new data showed migrant detentions at the southern US border have hit their highest level since 2006.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was in Washington for top-level talks with Vice President Mike Pence, hoping to prevent the five percent import tariffs from coming into force Monday, potentially taking a deep toll on Mexico's economy.
Ahead of the meeting, a top White House official laid out tough terms for Mexico to halt the northward flow of Central American migrants, demanding it lock down its own southern border and process asylum claims inside Mexico.
Speaking from Ireland, Trump said he believes Mexico is ready to "make a deal."
"I think they will stop it. I think they want to do something and make a deal," Trump said. "They sent their top people to try."
"I think Mexico has to step up and if they don't, the tariffs will go on, and if they go high, the companies are going to move back into the United States. It's very simple," he added.
MIGRANTS SURGE 32 PERCENT IN MAY
The talks opened as the US Customs and Border Protection reported that more than 144,000 migrants were detained crossing the border with Mexico in May, a 32 percent surge from April and nearly triple the level of a year ago.
Most were families from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and the total included some 57,718 children, mostly hoping to escape chronic poverty and violence and get a foothold inside the United States.
CBP Acting Commissioner John Sanders said the numbers had overwhelmed government staff and facilities at the border.
Increasingly the migrants were arriving in large groups, including one of 1,036 individuals detained in El Paso, Texas on May 29.
"We are in a full-blown emergency. The system is broken," he said.
WHITE HOUSE CONDITIONS
Ebrard was hoping to convince the White House to hold off on the tariffs, which Trump said last week will rise by 5 percent each month, up to 25 percent, if the number of migrants reaching the US border isn't cut.
Mexico has deployed its new National Guard police force to its southern border and stepped up migrant detentions and deportations.
But the flow has continued: a caravan of around 1,200 Central American migrants entered southern Mexico from Guatemala on Wednesday, bound for the United States, police said.
Senior Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro said Mexico could avoid the tariffs by satisfying 3 conditions.
First and foremost, he said, Mexico has to accept the migrants' asylum requests under its own laws rather than allowing them to travel on to the United States to seek sanctuary.
"They can commit to taking all the asylum seekers and then applying Mexican laws, which are much stronger than ours," he told CNN.
Secondly, Navarro said, Mexico has to more strongly police its southern border with Guatemala to prevent migrants from entering.
"The southern border that Mexico has with Guatemala is only 150 miles (240 kilometers), and better yet it has both natural and artificial chokepoints where it is really easy to police," Navarro said, offering US assistance in the process.
Thirdly, he said, Mexican officials manning checkpoints on the roads that migrants take through Mexico must stop taking bribes and permitting the migrants to continue on their northward journey toward the United States.
"Those checkpoints are designed to stop the flood, but instead, it's the corruption, the government officials that make money from this human trafficking, that has to stop," he said.
"That's it, that's what we're looking for."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - The United States began collecting higher 25 percent tariffs on many Chinese goods arriving in US seaports on Saturday morning in an intensification of the trade war between the world's 2 largest economies and drawing retaliation from Beijing.
US President Donald Trump imposed the tariff increase on a $200 billion list of Chinese goods on May 10, but had allowed a grace period for sea-borne cargoes that departed China before that date, keeping them at the prior, 10 percent duty rate.
The US Trade Representative's office in a May 15 Federal Register notice set a June 1 deadline for those goods to arrive in the United States, after which US Customs and Border protection would begin collecting the 25 percent duty rate at US ports. The deadline expired at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday.
The tariff increase affects a broad range of consumer goods and intermediate components from China including internet modems and routers, printed circuit boards, furniture, vacuum cleaners and lighting products.
Earlier on Saturday, China began collecting higher retaliatory tariffs on much of a $60-billion target list of US goods. The tariffs, announced on May 13 and taking effect midnight in Beijing, apply additional 20 percent or 25 percent tariffs on more than half of the 5,140 US products targeted. Beijing had previously imposed additional rates of 5 percent or 10 percent on the targeted goods.
No further trade talks between top Chinese and US negotiators have been scheduled since the last round ended in a stalemate on May 10, the same day Trump announced higher tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods and then took steps to levy duties on all remaining Chinese imports.
China ordered the latest tariff increases in response to Trump's move.
Trump has accused China of breaking a deal to settle their trade dispute by reneging on earlier commitments made during months of negotiations. China has denied the allegations.
Beijing has grown more strident in recent weeks, accusing Washington of lacking sincerity and vowing that it will not cave to the Trump administration's demands.
Its rhetoric has hardened particularly since Washington put Chinese company Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on a blacklist that effectively bans the firm from doing business with US companies.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- US and European stock indexes gained on Wednesday after news that US President Donald Trump planned to delay tariffs on auto imports, offsetting earlier pressure on equities from weak US and Chinese economic data that helped depress bond yields.
Trump is expected to delay a decision on tariffs on imported cars and parts by up to 6 months, 3 administration officials told Reuters. Fears about an escalating global trade war, particularly following a spike in US-China tensions, have rattled markets over the past week.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would likely travel to China soon to continue talks as Washington and Beijing seek to resolve their months-long trade war.
Major US and European stock indexes ended higher after falling earlier in the session.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 115.97 points, or 0.45 percent, to 25,648.02, the S&P 500 gained 16.55 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,850.96 and the Nasdaq Composite added 87.65 points, or 1.13 percent, to 7,822.15.
"The market was selling but rebounded," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "It's symptomatic of a market that's in short-term mode right now and what's driving that right now is trade."
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.46 percent. Europe's autos and suppliers index jumped 2 percent.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.49 percent.
The positive trade developments lifted risk sentiment that had been dampened earlier in the session by weak economic data.
China reported surprisingly weaker growth in retail sales and industrial output for April. In the US, retail sales unexpectedly fell in April as households cut back on purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, while other data showed a drop in industrial production last month.
US Treasury yields fell, with the two-year yield hitting its lowest in 15 months after the disappointing US data raised expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 14/32 in price to yield 2.3715 percent, from 2.419 percent late on Tuesday.
Yields on German bonds also sank deeper into negative territory.
"You have a tale of two markets," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird in Milwaukee. "US stocks, particularly US large-cap stocks, have rallied in response to ... trade-related headlines. But the curious thing is that the bond market has not responded."
"It suggests to me that there is cause for some global concern in terms of the economy," Delwiche said.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.06 percent, with the euro down 0.04 percent to $1.1199.
Oil futures rose as worries that rising tensions in the Middle East could hit global supplies overshadowed an unexpected build in U.S. crude inventories.
US crude rose 0.4 percent to settle at $62.02 a barrel, while Brent settled at $71.77, up 0.7 percent.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
The Trump administration can't shield consumers from its trade war anymore.
Until now, President Donald Trump’s tariffs on a total of $250 billion in Chinese imports have largely hit intermediate and capital goods — items typically bought by businesses, not shoppers.
That will change if Trump follows through with his threat to tax nearly every product China sends to the United States, or roughly $300 billion worth of goods. The US trade representative Monday detailed a list of what would face a tax of as much as 25 percent, which includes nearly 4,000 product categories.
Trump said Monday that he had not yet decided whether to impose the tariffs, but his administration has begun the formal process necessary for the United States to make good on his threat.
Officials said the new batch of tariffs “covers essentially all products not currently covered” by Trump’s existing tariffs on Chinese imports, but the list “excludes pharmaceuticals, certain pharmaceutical inputs, select medical goods, rare earth materials and critical minerals.”
So what would get hit with tariffs? The list reads like a shopping list for Target or Walmart, including toys, shoes, coffee makers and watches. Smartphones, photocopiers and video game consoles will face a tax. Also included are guns, fireworks, backgammon, Christmas decorations, practical joke toys, furs (with or without paws) and merry-go-rounds.
The list includes nearly 40 Chinese import categories that Americans collectively spent $1 billion or more on in 2017, according to government statistics. The largest among those, at $44.5 billion, are cellphones, followed by laptops at $37.2 billion and toys at $12.2 billion.
Here’s a quick scan of other consumer favorites that will be subject to tariffs if Trump follows through:
HOUSEWARES
— Kitchenware
— LED lamps
— Flags
— Microwave ovens
— Curtains and drapes
— Coffee makers
— Hair dryers
— Bed linens
CLOTHING
— Sweaters
— Shoes, including golf shoes, boots, running shoes and other footwear
— Bras
— Gloves
— Sunglasses
— Wigs and facial hair made of human hair
— T-shirts
— Track suits
TECHNOLOGY
— Smartphones, like iPhones
— Flat-panel televisions
— Copiers and fax machines
— Video cameras
— Lithium ion batteries
— Keyboards
— Loudspeakers
SPORTING GOODS
— Golf clubs
— Water skis, surf boards and other water sport equipment
— Bicycle parts
— Fishing rods
— Military rifles, shotguns and their parts
— Rocket launchers and flame throwers
DRUGSTORE ESSENTIALS
— Greeting cards
— Artificial flowers
— Flashlights
— Pens
Trump has insisted that the tariffs will not raise prices for consumers, saying that China will bear the brunt of the taxes, a view that many economists dispute.
On Monday, Trump encouraged companies to avoid tariffs by moving production out of China and into the United States or a country like Vietnam. He said the next round of tariffs represented “a tremendous amount of money that would come into our country."
Shifting production across borders would be difficult for some consumer-facing companies to do quickly, said Alan Detmeister, an economist at UBS and former head of the price and wage section at the Federal Reserve.
That means consumers could have little choice but to pay more for those goods, or buy fewer of them. It’s likely that the result will be higher consumer inflation. Goldman Sachs economists expect 25 percent tariffs on remaining Chinese goods could push up inflation — now at 1.6 percent on a core basis — by half a percentage point.
2019 New York Times News Service
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON/BEIJING -- The United States and China appeared at a deadlock over trade negotiations on Sunday as Washington demanded promises of concrete changes to Chinese law and Beijing said it would not swallow any "bitter fruit" that harmed its interests.
The trade war between the world's top two economies escalated on Friday, with the United States hiking tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods after President Donald Trump said Beijing "broke the deal" by reneging on earlier commitments made during months of negotiations.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told the "Fox News Sunday" program that China needs to agree to "very strong" enforcement provisions for an eventual deal and said the sticking point was Beijing's reluctance to put into law changes that had been agreed upon. Kudlow said the US tariffs would remain in place while negotiations continue.
Beijing remained defiant.
"At no time will China forfeit the country's respect, and no one should expect China to swallow bitter fruit that harms its core interests," said a commentary, due for Monday publication, in the Chinese ruling Communist Party's People's Daily.
It said Beijing was open to talks but would not yield on important issues of principle.
On Sunday, Trump sought to portray the United States as being in an advantageous position.
"We are right where we want to be with China," Trump wrote on Twitter, saying US purchasers of Chinese goods could either buy them from domestic manufacturers or from other nations.
Trump also repeated an erroneous statement that the United States would be taking in "Tens of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs from China."
The tariffs are not paid by the Chinese government or by firms located in China. They are paid by importers of Chinese goods, usually American companies or the US-registered units of foreign companies. These often pass on the costs to customers, mostly manufacturers and consumers in the United States.
Kudlow, when asked who was paying, said "both sides will suffer on this," contradicting Trump, although he added that the U.S. economy should be able to cope.
"We're in terrific shape in order to correct 20 years plus of unfair trading practices with China," Kudlow said. "... This is a risk we should and can take without damaging our economy in any appreciable way."
G20 SUMMIT
Kudlow said there is a "strong possibility" that Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at a G20 summit in Japan in late June.
Until last week, there were expectations Trump and Xi would sign a trade deal at the summit. However, the trade talks suffered a major setback last week when China proposed extensive revisions to a draft agreement. Beijing wanted to delete prior commitments that Chinese laws would be changed to enact new policies on issues from intellectual property protection to forced technology transfers.
Vice Premier Liu He, China's top economic adviser, sought to defend the changes in talks with senior US officials in Washington on Thursday and Friday, arguing that China could accomplish the policy changes through decrees issued by its State Council, or cabinet, sources familiar with the talks said.
US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer rejected that, telling Liu that the United States was insisting on restoration of the previous text.
"We would like to see these corrections in an agreement which is codified by law in China, not just a State Council announcement. We need to see something much clearer. And until we do we have to keep our tariffs on," Kudlow said.
China strongly opposes the latest US tariff hike, and must respond to that, Liu told reporters on Saturday.
Kudlow said on Sunday he expected retaliatory tariffs to kick in but that it had not yet happened.
Trump has ordered Lighthizer to begin imposing tariffs on all remaining imports from China, a move that would affect about an additional $300 billion worth of goods.
Lighthizer said a final decision on that has not yet been made but it would come on top of the Friday tariff rate increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
US farmers, a key constituency of Trump, have been among the hardest hit in the trade war, with soybean shipments to China dropping to a 16-year low in 2018.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
