Investors eye possible US-Europe trade deal as deadline looms
Trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe may have provided some investors with a rationale to be cautious, said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
"It's one of our largest trading relationships... So if that last piece falls into place, then you've probably got at the margin more people that have to get back in the markets," Samana said. "It's been a source of uncertainty that will go away."
A deal would likely include a 15% baseline tariff on all EU goods entering the U.S. and probably a 50% tariff on European steel and aluminum, the officials and diplomats said.
Optimism over easing trade tensions broadly has helped push U.S. stocks to record highs. Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping global tariffs sent stocks plunging in the immediate aftermath, due to spiking fears about a recession that have since faded.
Still, investors have been bracing for increased volatility heading into August 1, which the U.S. has set as a deadline for raising levies on a broad swath of trading partners.
The EU is facing U.S. tariffs on more than 70% of its exports - 50% on steel and aluminum, 25% on cars and car parts and a 10% levy on most other EU goods, which Trump has said he would hike to 30% on August 1. Hopes for a deal with Europe rose after Trump struck a trade agreement with Japan earlier in the week.
"The deal with Japan and the likely one soon with the EU are especially important given both are major U.S. trading partners, together accounting for about a quarter of all goods imports," analysts at Capital Economics said in a note on Friday.
In the agreement with Japan, the country's auto sector, which accounts for more than a quarter of its U.S. exports, will see existing tariffs cut to 15% from levies totaling 27.5% previously.
An agreement that also lowers EU auto tariffs to 15% "would be no small deal" for the region as well, as about 10% of its shipments to the U.S. are in the same category, Capital Economics said. Investors over the weekend were also watching for developments on trade between the U.S. and China. Officials from the two countries plan to meet in Stockholm next week to discuss extending an August 12 deadline for negotiating a deal. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Alden Bentley and Edward Tobin)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
2 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Digital payments rise 10.7 pc at end-March 2025: RBI data
Reuters Representational image Digital payments across the country registered a 10.7 per cent year-on-year rise as on March 2025, according to the RBI's index that measures the adoption of online transactions. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been publishing a composite Reserve Bank of India - Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) since January 1, 2021, with March 2018 as the base year to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. The index for March 2025 stands at 493.22 as against 465.33 for September 2024 and 445.5 for March 2024, the RBI said in a statement. "The increase in RBI-DPI index was driven by significant growth in parameters viz. Payment Infrastructure - Supply-side factors and Payment Performance across the country over the period," according to the semi-annual data. The RBI-DPI comprises five broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different time periods. These parameters are Payment Enablers (weight 25 per cent), Payment Infrastructure - Demand-side factors (10 per cent), Payment Infrastructure - Supply-side factors (15 per cent), Payment Performance (45 per cent) and Consumer Centricity (5 per cent). PTI
Time of India
5 minutes ago
- Time of India
Britain's prime minister presses Trump on 'desperate' situation in Gaza during meeting in Scotland
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel US President Trump met on Monday at one of his Scottish golf courses with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer , who pressed him on the U.S. taking a larger role in helping quell a growing food crisis in Gaza amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in the and his wife, Victoria, arrived at Trump's Turnberry course on the southern coast, and the Republican president spent several minutes chatting with them and proudly pointing out key aspects of the property. But the prime minister didn't wait until they were inside to insist that Gaza would be a key topic in their meeting, calling what's occurring there "a desperate situation."Trump expressed concern about the humanitarian situation and urged Israel's leader to take action as images of emaciated children have was asked if he agreed with Netanyahu's remarks about concerns of mass starvation in Gaza being overstated and replied, "I don't know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry."Starmer was far more forceful: "I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they are seeing on their screens."Trump said Israel "has a lot of responsibility" for what's happening but said the country is hampered by considerations of the remaining hostages it wants to see kept alive and freed."I think Israel can do a lot," Trump said, without offering more has multiple Scottish golf courses The prime minister is meeting with Trump at Turnberry but also plans to travel north, to outside Aberdeen, where the president's family has a second golf course and is holding a ribbon-cutting for a third one on events allow Trump to try and make good on a post from his first term in 2019, when he wrote of his Turnberry property, "Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!"Starmer is famously not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name - and on golf's ability to shape Monday's talks also covered far more serious prime minister wants Washington's help in convincing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and attempting to end what Downing Street called "the unspeakable suffering and starvation" while pushing for a along with France and Germany, has criticized Israel for "withholding essential humanitarian assistance" as hunger spreads in Gaza. Over the weekend, Starmer said Britain will take part in efforts led by Jordan to airdrop aid after Israel temporarily eased British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged Monday that only the U.S. has "the leverage" to make a real difference in the conflict. Trump spoke before the meeting with Starmer about wanting to help starving children, but he has also repeatedly complained about the U.S. not getting enough credit for organizing past food aid into Gaza."Nobody said even thank you," he said. "Somebody should say thank you."Palestinian state questions and Ukraine also being discussed Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but it must be "part of a wider plan" for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian however, said Monday of Starmer doing so, "I don't mind him taking a position."Also on Monday's agenda are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine, particularly trying to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table within a 50-day window Trump set earlier this said before the meeting with Starmer that he'd work to reduce the "50 days to a lesser number" and urged Russia to agree to a in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough public gratitude toward U.S. support for his country, taking a similar tack he's now adopting when it comes to aid for Gaza. The president, though, has shifted away from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in recent new golf course near Aberdeen opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale - with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. Protesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing Aberdeen golf course. That follows protests across Scotland on Saturday decrying the president's visit as he was out past trade agreements While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods, it has since begun negotiating to ease trade tensions. Starmer and his country have taken a far softer gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House , and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import."The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them - that's their ultimate protection," Trump said of U.S. tariff policy during the with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries, though many major details remain president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in a hurry. But the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning. The deal framework from May said British steel would enter the U.S. duty-free, but it continues to face a 25% levy.U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday that "negotiations have been going on on a daily basis" and "there's a few issues to push a little bit further today," though he downplayed expectations of a leader of Scotland, meanwhile, has urged Trump to lift the current 10% tariff on Scotch whisky. First Minister John Swinney said the spirit's "uniqueness" justified an exemption.
News18
11 minutes ago
- News18
US-China Trade Talks In Sweden May Yield 90-Day Tariff Truce Extension: Report
Last Updated: Tensions in the US-China trade war has escalated sharply since Donald Trump began his second presidential term. A key meeting in Stockholm today between economic officials from the United States and China is expected to address the possibility of a truce extention from tariff war between the two countries, according to Reuters. China is currently facing a deadline of 12 August to reach a tariff agreement with the US, though it is widely anticipated that this deadline may be extended further by 90 days. The talks are being led by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and China's Vice Premier He Lifeng, signalling high-level engagement on both sides. Tensions in the US-China trade war have escalated sharply since Donald Trump began his second presidential term in January this year. Over recent months, not only China but several other countries have faced increased tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. In response, Beijing retaliated by imposing its own tariffs, resulting in a tit-for-tat trade conflict that has seen tariff rates soar beyond 100% in some sectors. Previous meetings in Geneva and London during May and June aimed to halt the ongoing tariff escalation. Preliminary agreements were reached, raising hopes of a broader resolution. The current talks in Stockholm are expected to build on those earlier discussions. A 90-day extension would not only give both sides more time to negotiate a comprehensive deal but would also provide stability for global markets and the international supply chain, which has been significantly disrupted by the ongoing conflict. In a statement given on July 27, just hours before announcing a separate agreement with the European Union, President Trump told the press, 'We're very close to a deal with China. We really sort of made a deal with China, but we'll see how it goes." The EU, in a separate deal finalised on Sunday, agreed to a 15% tariff on exported goods and committed to purchasing $750 billion worth of energy from the US, alongside plans to invest $600 million over the coming years. While a similarly comprehensive package is not expected from the US-China negotiations, today's Stockholm meeting offers a promising sign of progress. Should the extension be granted, it would allow time to arrange a face-to-face meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, likely to take place in late October or early November. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has also intensified trade talks with nations such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Notably, Britain has successfully negotiated the lowest agreed tariff rate thus far, set at just 10%. view comments First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
