Most Gulf stocks slip on US tariff worries
Sentiment soured after the Financial Times reported on Friday that US President Donald Trump is pushing for a minimum tariff of 15% to 20% in any deal with the European Union, with the administration now considering reciprocal tariffs exceeding 10%, even if an agreement is reached. Trump's imposition of tariffs around the world risks hurting global economic growth and oil consumption.
Saudi Arabia's benchmark index dropped 0.4%, surrendering early gains and extending its losing streak to nine sessions, the longest stretch in nearly two years, hit by broad sector declines.
Saudi National Bank, the country's biggest lender by assets, fell 0.8%, and Saudi Arabian Mining Company declined 1.3% following the voluntary retirement of its chief financial officer.
Among other fallers, Fawaz AbdulAziz Al Hokair & Co gave up early gains to end 10% lower, the top loser on the index.
The retail and real estate firm sold a 49.95% stake to Emirati conglomerate Al Futtaim Retail in a deal worth over 2.5 billion riyals ($666.52 million).
Qatar's stock index added 0.2%, nearing a two-year peak, led by a 1.2% rise in petrochemical maker Industries Qatar.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index gained 0.7%, hitting a record high as most sectors advanced, driven by optimism over the country's International Monetary Fund programme.
Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said on Wednesday he was confident the country would hit its key economic reform targets and complete a delayed review of its $8 billion IMF programme by September or October.
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Express Tribune
14 minutes ago
- Express Tribune
Trump's belligerence drives a major shift in Indo-Pacific
The author writes on geopolitical issues and regional conflicts. He can be reached at Listen to article Donald Trump's implacable belligerence has tutored traditional American allies to quickly adjust to new geopolitical realities or truckle to his ceaseless demands. An increased sense of urgency across Europe and the Indo-Pacific implies that they have decided to take up the gauntlet of diversifying their partnerships. In a rare show of displeasure at the US president's stubborn arrogance, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his China visit sought to stabilise relations and manage differences to "contribute" to regional peace and prosperity, holding a "constructive" meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to underscore Beijing's importance for "our economy, our security and the stability of our region". Beijing is Canberra's largest trading partner with almost a third of Australia's exports destined for China and bilateral trade hitting 312 billion Australian dollars in 2024. The two economies are highly complementary, meaning China has a huge demand for Australian goods and services. This symbiotic bond, unlike the Australia-US parasitistic trade ties, provides a sound footing to tap the opportunity and strengthen the extensive relationship. China's investments contribute to infrastructure development, productivity and job creation in Australia; and its development, opening-up and rising middle class unleash new vistas for Australian exporters. As members of Asia-Pacific Economic Forum and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, both countries also have shared interests in safeguarding regional stability and prosperity. In the face of rising protectionism and unprecedented volatility in global trade due to Trump's unilateral tariffs, a stable and strengthened Australia-China relationship would ensure the Australian economy to withstand and navigate strenuous trials and continue to make a positive impact on domestic workers, employers and industries. The strengthening of the Beijing-Canberra ties has ushered in a wave of optimism among Australian businesses with 75% of foreign firms in a poll by the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce reporting profitability in 2024. Their enthusiasm — because 70% rate China as one of their top three destinations for investment over the next three years — reinforces Beijing's appeal as a hub of innovation and industrial transformation. Canberra's intent to "do more business with China" was reflected in its Trade Minister Don Farrell's interview in which he refused to budge to US pressure, emphasising that Chinese trade was nearly 10 times more valuable to Canberra. "We'll make decisions... to engage with China based on our national interests and not on what the Americans may or may not want." Nonetheless, disparity between Albanese's and the country's defence department's approaches risks derailing Australia's newfound charm offensive against China. For instance, Canberra has been accusing Beijing of spearheading the largest and most ambitious military buildup since the Second World War. Its Defense Minister, Richard Marles, recently echoed such an assertion. Yet this assessment has long been contested by none other than Australia's own analysts and former diplomats who believe the Chinese strategy is essentially inward looking, focusing internal stability and external security. Even leading Western investigations reveal that the US, by far, outspends China in defence spending and that Beijing's military development and the record of use of force are relatively restrained. Conversely, Trump's return is spurring new challenges for the Albanese government. After the Biden administration wanted to get Canberra "off the fence" by locking it for the next 40 years through AUKUS, Trump's AUKUS-skeptic undersecretary of defense Elbridge Colby is leveraging the trilateral partnership to hard-press Australia into making pre-commitments if a US-China war breaks out on Taiwan. The Trump administration is also pressurising Australia to increase defence spending to 3.5% of the GDP. Canberra has hitherto resisted the US pressure for it would cost Australia tens of billions of dollars. For an economy that will remain in a structural deficit through 2034-35, a defence splurge would indeed imperil Albanese's social policy agenda. Trade with China has helped Australia put the cost of living on a downward trajectory. Studies show that this trade relationship has increased disposable income of Australian households by an average of 2,600 Australian dollars, supporting around 600,000 jobs. While US maintains 10% baseline tariff on Australian goods, 25% on automobiles and 50% on steel and aluminum, Beijing thanks to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement applies an average of just 1.1%, urging Canberra to rethink before jumping on Washington's bandwagon vis-à-vis Beijing. No wonder China is seen as a more reliable trade partner than the US by Australians with a sizeable majority of them (71%) agreeing that the country's relationship with Beijing is important. This comes as Trump has upended the long-held assumption that America could be a dependable ally, stoking a belief in many Aussies whether it could even act responsibly. Establishing diplomatic relations, Beijing and Canberra in 1972 agreed to develop the relationship on the basis of the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence. These fundamental tenets laid the foundation of a robust Beijing-Canberra relationship as people across the two countries lived together peacefully through decades. Should Australia chuck out its schizophrenic ambivalence, both nations can still pioneer the way for a resilient strategic partnership and a secure and thriving Indo-Pacific.
Express Tribune
3 hours ago
- Express Tribune
US, China to resume tariff talks in effort to extend truce
US and Chinese flags and a "tariffs" label are seen in this illustration created on April 10, 2025. Photo: Reuters Listen to article Senior US and Chinese negotiators meet in Stockholm on Monday to tackle longstanding economic disputes at the centre of the countries' trade war, aiming to extend a truce keeping sharply higher tariffs at bay. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with President Donald Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached a preliminary deal in June to end weeks of escalating tit-for-tat tariffs. Without an agreement, global supply chains could face renewed turmoil from duties exceeding 100%. The Stockholm talks, led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, take place a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets Trump at his golf course in Scotland to try to clinch a deal that would likely see a 15% baseline tariff on most EU goods. Also Read: Israel announces daily pauses in Gaza fighting as aid airdrops begin Trade analysts on both sides of the Pacific say the discussions in the Swedish capital are unlikely to produce any breakthroughs but could prevent further escalation and help create conditions for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet later this year. Previous US-China trade talks in Geneva and London in May and June focused on bringing US and Chinese retaliatory tariffs down from triple-digit levels and restoring the flow of rare earth minerals halted by China and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab H20 AI chips and other goods halted by the United States. So far, the talks have not delved into broader economic issues. They include US complaints that China's state-led, export-driven model is flooding world markets with cheap goods, and Beijing's complaints that US national security export controls on tech goods seek to stunt Chinese growth. "Stockholm will be the first meaningful round of US-China trade talks," said Bo Zhengyuan, Shanghai-based partner at China consultancy firm Plenum. Trump has been successful in pressuring some other trading partners, including Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, into deals accepting higher US tariffs of 15% to 20%. He said there was a 50-50 chance that the US and the 27-member European Union could also reach a framework trade pact, adding that Brussels wanted to "make a deal very badly". Read: Six killed, scores injured in Indian temple stampede Two of Trump's top trade officials, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, will attend the Scotland talks and then travel to Stockholm. Analysts say the US-China negotiations are far more complex and will require more time. China's grip on the global market for rare earth minerals and magnets, used in everything from military hardware to car windshield wiper motors, has proved to be an effective leverage point on US industries. Trump-Xi meeting? In the background of the talks is speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Xi in late October. Trump has said he will decide soon whether to visit China in a landmark trip to address trade and security tensions. A new flare-up of tariffs and export controls would likely derail any plans for a meeting with Xi. "The Stockholm meeting is an opportunity to start laying the groundwork for a Trump visit to China," said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Bessent has already said he wants to work out an extension of the August 12 deadline to prevent tariffs snapping back to 145% on the US side and 125% on the Chinese side. Still, China will likely request a reduction of multi-layered US tariffs totaling 55% on most goods and further easing of US high-tech export controls, analysts said. Beijing has argued that such purchases would help reduce the US trade deficit with China, which reached $295.5 billion in 2024. Also Read: Drone debris disrupts trains, suspends flights in Volgograd China is currently facing a 20% tariff related to the US fentanyl crisis, a 10% reciprocal tariff, and 25% duties on most industrial goods imposed during Trump's first term. Bessent has also said he would discuss with He the need for China to rebalance its economy away from exports toward domestic consumer demand. The shift would require China to put an end to a protracted property crisis and boost social safety nets to encourage household spending. Michael Froman, a former US trade representative during Barack Obama's administration, said such a shift has been a goal of US policymakers for two decades. "Can we effectively use tariffs to get China to fundamentally change their economic strategy? That remains to be seen," said Froman, now president of the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
Business Recorder
12 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Australia's PM says easing of curbs on US beef not prompted by Trump
SYDNEY: Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday that a decision to ease rules on beef imports from the US was not prompted by US President Donald Trump. Trump this week said the US would sell 'so much' beef to Australia after Canberra announced the relaxation of restrictions, potentially smoothing trade talks with Washington. In place since 2003, the curbs were due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, which can kill cattle as well as people who eat infected beef. When asked on Sunday if the easing had anything to do with Trump, Albanese said 'No, this has been a process that has been there for 10 years, the review process'. 'This wasn't a political decision,' Albanese said in remarks on Australian Broadcasting Corp television, adding that Trump had not raised the issue with him in a phone call. The comments come after US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called the easing a win for Trump. In April, Trump singled out the beef trade disparity with Australia after Australia's beef exports to the U.S. surged last year, reaching A$4 billion amid a slump in U.S. beef production. By contrast, Australia's agriculture minister said the rules were relaxed after a 'rigorous science and risk-based assessment' concluded that U.S. measures to monitor and control cattle movement were effectively managing biosecurity risks. News of Australia changing its policy was first reported by the Australian Financial Review. The report said Australia will use the easing of rules to argue its case for the U.S. to wind back 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium and Trump's threat to impose a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. Collins said the decision was a purely scientific one. A loosening of beef import rules is not expected to boost significantly U.S. shipments because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter whose prices are much lower, according to analysts.
